Lost and Found
by SqueeGurl
Summary: I've seen quite a few of those universe cross overs where people throw themselves into Kakashi Hatake's lap, well, I took a different approach. A young woman wakes up in the middle of the dessert after an explosion at the local pub.
1. Prelude

"Bambino's." I answered the phone. Another damn order. It was a quarter to ten and this was the fifth order in the last fifteen minutes. Should have been expected. It was a friday night, and our kitchen closes at ten, Apparently every one in town wanted pizza." So you want an extra large, half shrimp and half tomato and broccoli?" I asked to confirm the lady's order. Who in the world ordered shrimp on pizza? Gross. "Alright ma'am, your total is twenty three seventeen. It'll be ready for pick up in about thirty five minutes." I paused while the lady asked for delivery, "I'm sorry ma'am, our delivery guy already left for the night, you'll have to come and pick it up." I winced as she yelled for her husband, or boyfriend or whatever and failed to cover the mouthpiece of the phone. Some people. I rolled my eyes as she told me that a 'Bobby' would pick it up. She said goodbye and hung up. I sighed and printed out the reciept and handed it to Jess, one of our cooks.

"Here Jess. The shrimp should be in the third freezer." I said as I leaned on the edge of the bar.

She took it with a tired look and nodded, "Thanks, Amanda."

"If you need help, just ask." Poor girl, it was her second day, and she barely knew what she was doing. I watched as she retreated back into the kitchen and I could hear the radio blaring back there. At least she had some sort of entertainment.

Just another Friday night. What I wouldn't give for a beer right now. Too bad I still had two hours left of my shift. Not only that, but I still had a bar full of people. I turned around and refilled my soda and looked towards the door as I heard the beep of the door opening. We had a nifty security system that whenever a door opened, either back door or the front, there was a nice beep to let us know someone was comming in. It was one of our regulars, John. He nodded to me and by the time he was seated, I had his usual, Captian Morgan and Coke on ice, in a glass waiting for him.

"Long night, babe?" John asked as he toyed with the small red straw in his glass.

I nodded and reached for my soda. Beloved Mountain Dew. I was going to need the sugar to keep going tonight.

"Don't worry, it couldn't get any worse." He said as he handed me a twenty dollar bill to change out into fives so he could play the poker machines on the other side of the bar. It was his routine. Come in, get a Cap'n, change out a few twenties, chat with me, walk me to my car when we closed. John was such a sweetheart.

I shrugged as I opened the register, "Yeah I guess. So long as Kenny doesn't come in tonight."

Kenny was another one of our regulars. He was usually a good guy, unless he's had too much to drink, then he likes to start fights. The last time, he was going after another regular, Brian. John and I both could barely keep him from getting to Brian, luckily, our deleveriy guy, Jeff, called the cops and they showed up before any real damage was done. That is, if you don't call four broken glasses, a broken bar stool, and a stiky mess of beer on the floor real damage.

"If he comes in, just keep the phone by you, but I doubt we'll have a repeat of Tuesday." John said as he pulled out his pack of ciggarettes. I handed him his fives and he smiled as he wandered over to the poker machines.

I refilled a few beers for some of the customers and dealt with four of the five pickups for the night before ten thirty came around. Most of the customers had left, John was watching the news on the TV above the bar, and there was still no sign of this 'Bobby' that was supposed to pick up the shrimpy pizza. Bobby finnaly showed to pick up the pizza around ten fourty five. He handed me twenty five dollars and told me to keep the change. I didn't argue, but wished the guy a good night and told him that in the future, the delvieries stop at nine thirty. He thanked me and left. The night was starting to look up. Jess and Mike, the two cooks for the evening had already left. It was just me and John.

"So how was work, Sweets?" Everyone that knew John called him Sweets. I'm not sure on the reasoning behind it, but it's hard to change a habit once you pick it up.

"Same as usual. Go in, show everyone how to do the job right, come here, get a drink." He emptied his glass before continueing, "And chat with pretty ladies like yourself."

"You know, you don't need to flater me to get a refill. It's my job." I said as I grabbed his glass and added more ice before mixing the drink.

"I know, babe. I just like to give you a better reason to do it."

I couldn't help but smile. I checked my watch. It was eleven. I could safely close the bar right now if John was done for the night, but if not, I was free to have a beer myself. Hardly anyone came in after eleven, not even the boss. I dumped the ice from my cup and set it aside before walking over to the beer cooler and grabbing a beer. I twisted off the top and walked around the bar and sat down. I chugged half the bottle before setting it on the bar.

The phone rang.

I cursed, John laughed, and I reached for the handset and answered, "Bambino's." Nothing but static on the other end. I waited a few seconds, "Hello? ...hello!" Still no answer. I raised an eyebrow and hung up the phone.

John looked at me curiously and I shrugged, "There was no one on the other end."

John shrugged and sipped his drink, "Probably some kids pulling pranks."

"Most likely." I said as I pulled out my pack of cigarettes and snatched John's lighter off the bar. John laughed to himself as I lit the little cancer stick and took a drag, blessed menthol and nicotine filled my lungs for the first time in three hours and helped the slight buzz that I had going from the beer. I rolled my eyes.

"You going to have another or can I cash you out?" I could tell he was almost done for the night.

"Just put it on my tab, and yours too." He said as he nodded to the bottle sitting before me.

I smiled and nodded, "Thanks." he shrugged as I walked around the bar, rung up his tab, and started the shut down process for the night.

John got up and walked to the front door to unplug the 'OPEN' sign. After a few minutes when he didn't return, I glanced over my shoulder to see him picking some songs off the Juke Box.

"If you love me, you'll play 'Red Neck Woman'!" I shouted across the bar to him. I smiled as he gave me a thumbs up.

The computer beeped to indicate that it was done processing and I could count out the money and fold up the report. I opened the drawer and counted the bills as music filled the bar. I groaned, more of that sappy lonely cowboy crap that John loved so much.

I put the money away as John seated himself once more. I stuffed all the money in the cash box and slid it under the sink, the new hiding place. The last place, the beer cooler, had been discovered by our last theif so we had to find a new place, a new box, and a new front window. I folded up the report and put it in the folder beside the register and returned to my seat and listened to John sing.

Twenty minutes later we were standing infront of the building while I locked the front door. We had stayed to listen to all the song selections on the box. It was fine with me, I didn't need to be home right away.

As the door clicked shut, John grabbed me by the shoulder, "Hey, you got your cell on you?"

I turned and pulled it from my jacket, "Yeah, why?" He didn't need to answer, I saw right away why he wanted the phone. There was a pickup truck accross the street at the gas station. sure, that was a normal thing before seven in the evening, but it was almost eleven thirty, the gas station was closed, and there were a couple of guys doing something to one of the gas pumps. I hit the speed dial on my phone to call the police station. Before there were even three rings, everything around me seemed to go in slow motion.

First I noticed John running accross the street, calling out to the four or five guys at the pump, then I noticed that the entire lot was soaked, and it hadn't rained for days. I called out to John, trying to point this out as one of the guys pulled out a lighter. Right about then, everything seemed to speed back up to normal, and the guy with the lighter, dropped it to the ground. For a second it didn't seem to do anything, but then the entire parking lot accross the street went up in flames. I threw my arms up to sheild my eyes from the sudden blaze. It seemed okay for a second, then all six pumps exploded, and the force of it slamed me back into the door. Almost instantly everything went black.

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a/n : Sorry that the first chapter seemed so boring. I just wanted to set the scene and give you a little backround about amanda and what she does everyday. Hope I didn't discourage any readers. This is my first story in First Person POV. I promise the second chapter won't be quite so "lame". 


	2. Chapter One

Disclaimer : Anything Naruto does not belong to me. I swear!

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Pain flooded my sences and forced me out of the comfort of the bleak darkness that had claimed me after the explosion. I opened my eyes to find myself on my side, laying in sand. I groaned as I pushed myself up into a sitting position. I blinked a few times and looked around. THe restuarant was gone, so was the gas station across the street, and well, any semblence of habitaition. As I looked around, all I saw was sand. Miles and miles of it. I sat there for a few minutes and sheilded my eyes from the sun. It was hotter than hell out here!

"Great, I'm halucinating. Or I'm dreaming..." I said aloud and almost flinched. My voice sounded so loud. I pushed myself to my feet and brushed some sand from my jeans. Some of the sand was clumpy and red. Confused, I looked myself over and groaned. My jeans were torn around the knees, and beneath the torn fabric, I could see that my legs had cuts running from just below my knees, to just above them. Ever notice how you can cut yourself and not feel it untill you see the blood? Yeah, now my knees hurt so bad, I almost fell over. I bit my lower lip and tried to brush off as much sand as possible, while tring not to touch the noumours cuts. Didn't work out so well.

"Fuck! What the hell is going on?" I praticly screamed. I fell back on my rear end and instead of brushing off the sand, blew really hard on each knee. It helped, but only a little. I closed my eyes and tried to think of something else. One thing I learned from working in a kitchen for most of my life was, if you hurt yourself, think of something else, something happy and the pain lessens. I must have sat there, thinking of cheese cake and Smallville for close to fifteen minutes with my eyes closed before the pain finally was nothing more than a throb.

I looked around and tried to take stock of my situation. I was alone, in a dessert, no food, no water. I checked my pockets for anything. I came up with a crumpled twenty dollar bill, two quarters, a penny, and my pocket knife. Well, there was one thing I could use. I used the pocket knive to cut my jeans around the knees. I pulled the cut off portion down over my shoes and tossed them aside. It wasn't untill I was putting the knife away that I heard voices.

"Would it kill him to leave a note when he dissapears for hours?"

That was defiinatly a woman. Guess there's hope for me yet.

"You know how he is. He's Kazekage, he doesn't need to leave a note."

Male this time, but what the hell was a Kazekage? I pushed myself to my feet and tried to figure out where the voices were comming from.

"Kazekage or not, it's still common curtisouy to leave a note, Kankuro."

Who ever they were, they were in front of me, probably over the hill of sand. I started walking that way.

"Yeah well...hey, do you see that?"

I started walking faster, they probably spotted me. I looked up at the top of the sand hill, or was it a dune? Whatever, didn't matter now. I could faintly make out two people standing up there looking down in my direction. I stood there, unsure of what to do.

Both figures slid down the sand towards me and I continued to stand there.

"Who are you?" It was the female who's voice I had heard. She was a little taller than me, with blonde hair, pulled back in four pony tails.

"Who cares who she is, why is she out here, she's not from the village." It was the owner of the other voice. He was an odd one, he was dressed all in black and had purple markings all over his face. His hood vaguely reminded me of a cat.

"I ah..." I was at a loss for words. What should I say, a gas station exploded, knocked me out, and I woke up here? Yeah, right. I didn't even belive it myself, what would they think?

They both looked me over, and waited. Apparently they were waiting for an explination.

"What's a Kazekage?" It was the only thing that came to mind to say.

"definatly not from the Village." The girl said with a slight smirk, "The Kazekage is the leader of our village. What's your name?"

"Amanda."

"What village are you from, Amanda-san?" The guy in black asked.

"It's called Steger...but I don't think it's anywhere near here..." I said as I looked around. What was with the 'san' he added onto my name?

"Well, looks like we should do what we always do with newcomers." The girl said. Her companion nodded.

Great, they're going to kill me here and now. I backed up slightly and they both looked at me.

"We ain't gonna hurt you." The girl seemed to be reading my mind.

"Okay, well...I gave you my name, you guys have names?" For someone who was just bitching about common curtisiy, she wasn't expressing any.

"Oh, gomen, I'm Temari, and this is my brother, Kankuro." Temari said with a slight smile. She didn't look too much older than me, and it was hard to tell about her brother, Kankuro. The facepaint can really throw someone off.

"Okay, so what is it you're going to do with me?" I asked as I crossed my arms over my chest, and for the first time in the last hour or so, realized that I was missing my jacket. Not like I needed it in this heat anyways.

"Take you to the Kazekage." Kankuro said as he walked past me.

"But first, we have to find him, so you're going to have to come with." Temari said as she watched her brother walk away.

"Follow him?" I asked as i motioned to Kankuro. Temari nodded and gave me the ever famous 'after you' gesture.

I followed tall dark and slightly spooky for a little while in total silence before speaking.

"So what does this Kazekage person look like?" I asked Temari, who had, after a few minutes, started walking beside me, instead of behind me.

"Few inches shorter than Kankuro, blood red hair, and he had a huge gord strapped to his back, why?" She gave me one of those 'what's it to you?' looks.

"Well, you're looking for him, and three sets of eyes are better than two." I said with a shrug and sheilded my eyes from the sun once more.

She shrugged, "Sure."

It seemed like we had been walking forever when I spotted something a ways off to my right, it was round and almost the same color as the sand. I guess the only reason I even noticed it was the bit of red over it. I pointed it out to Temari and she smiled.

"There he is." She said as she poked Kankuro. He turned and nodded.

"Alright, go get him then." He said with a shrug.

She shook her head, "Not me, she spotted him." Temari said with a nod in my direction.

I looked at them, slightly confused, "So?"

"You spotted him, so go get him." Kankuro said as he pushed me gently in the direction of their leader.

"And say what exacly, 'Hi there, those people over there, the blonde and the guy who looks like a demonic cat, sent me to get you.' ? Yeah, like that will go over well. I don't even know who the hell he is." I said with my hands on my hips.

Temari smiled, "At least I'm not the only one who thinks he resembles a cat with that stupid hood."

Kankuro rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "He's our brother, so go up there and tell him we're looking for him. Alright?"

I held my hands up in defeat, "Okay, okay."

I trudged up the sand dune that the pair's brother was apparently sitting on top of and tried not to fall on my face. I wasn't skilled in the department of sand walking.

As i neared the top i realized that I was right. He was sitting in the sand. He apparently had realized I was comming up to get him because the second I reached the top of the dune, he stood up.

"Who are you?" He asked without turning to face me.

"Um, your brother and sister sent me up here to get you." My voice quavered slightly and I realized that I was slightly afraid. I didn't know why, I just was.

He turned slightly and looked at me out of the corner of his eye, which i noticed was a startling aqua green. That was a color I hadn't seen unless someoen was wearing those colored contacts that were so popular in my high school years.

"You're not from around here." He said as he crossed his arms.

I nodded, "Yeah, I guess not. They're waiting for you back there." Sarcasm was leaking through with my slight fear. One of my greatest downfalls.

"Let them wait." He still hadn't turned to face me. I glanced over my shoulder to look at Temari and Kankuro, both of which seemed to be waiting pactiently.

"Look, I don't know your name, I don't even know where the hell I am, so can we go down there and then all three of you can explain how I ended up in a dessert?" I was growing impatient. Add that to the little ball of fear that was slowly growing in the pit of my stomach, and you would get a very irratible Amanda.

"Gaara."

"Excuse me?"

"My name is Gaara. Sit down before you fall down." He said as he seated himself once more in the sand.

I shrugged and sat down without hesitation, keeping in mind not to sit indian style like Gaara was now. That would just send a new wave of pain from my knees. I leaned forward and looked him over.

Other than the obsenely large gord strapped to his back, he seemed like a normal enough guy. He had on a burnt red colored trench style coat. It was buttoned down the front to his waist and then flared out, sorta like Neo's from the Matrix. He had on black pants and black sandles. The only distracting thing about him was the tattoo or marking or what ever it was, over his left eye. It was the color of blood and looked like one of those chinese symbols.

"Now answer my question, who are you?"

"My name is Amanda." My response was almost automatic. I don't know why, but I felt compeled to answer any question he asked me. I'm hardly ever that co-opertive.

"How did you come to meet my sister and brother?"

"Well, I woke up in the middle of the dessert, and they were looking for you and found me first." I said as I drew circles in the sand.

It was then that he turned his full attention to me and looked me over. It was also then that I became very aware of my current state. Cut off jean shorts, a black t-shirt with a red dragon on the front, and my short messy red hair.

I gave him a questioning look and he shrugged, "So you're not from around here. What is the name of your village?"

Here we go again, the whole village bit. Well, Steger wasn't all that big, so I guess it could be called a village, "I'm from Steger."

He continued to look at me for a few minutes before standing up and heading down the dune. I reaminded seated and watched him go. He only went a few feet before turning to look at me, "We should head back." And with that, he continued down to his brother and sister.

I stood up and followed as quickly as possible while remaining on my feet.

When we rejoined the brother and sister duo, Kankuro seemed slightly surprised to see me return, Temari on the other hand, smiled at me warmly.

"So she was telling the truth?" Kankuro asked Temari as we started walking back the way we had come.

"Apparntly, Gaara didn't kill her on site, so she must have. Either that, or..."

I glanced over my shoulder to see Temari wispering something in Kankuro's ear. I narrowed my eyes, "Hey! No secrets!" I was on the verge of pouting when Kankuro burst out laughing.

I was about ready to snap on the others when Gaara held up his hand, "Enough."

Kankuro stifled his laughter at once and Temari looked like she had suddenly lost interest in the whole situation, let alone the conversation.

I rolled my eyes and stuffed my hands in my pockets and followed the red head in silence.

After about an hour of walking in total silence, I could barely make out a a huge wall, about a mile or so off in the distance ahead of us. It was here that Gaara halted us.

"Amanda-san, you are to go with my sister to clean up and she will take you to the Main Building in the village. Do not speak with anyone other than her, and do not stop for any reason, understood?" He looked at me dead serious.

I nodded, "Okay."

He in turn nodded to Kankuro and Temari and they nodded back.

"I expect a full explination when I see you again." I opened my mouth to ask him what he ment, but he dissapeard. Not just vannished before my eyes, but dissolved into sand and was gone.

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A/N: Hope I didn't loose anyone with that chapter. Please, R&R. I need feed back, positive or negative, makes no difference to me.


	3. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro are not mine, Amanda is however. Only I am allowed to drive her insane.

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I stared open mouthed at where the stoic red head had been only moments before. Normal people don't just dissolve. There was something completely not right going on here. I looked over at Temari who was in turn, looking at me curiously.

"What's the matter, you look pale all of a sudden..." She put a hand on my shoulder.

I shrugged, "Is it normal for people to just..." I couldn't even put the action into words, so I pointed at the ground where Gaara had been standing, "Do that?"

"Do what?"

I sighed, "To dissolve into sand like that? Am I the only one who finds it weird that people do that? I mean-Stop laughing at me!" Half way though my first sentence Kankuro seemed to find the situation hilarious and burst into a fit of laughter.

Temari threw Kankuro a dirty look before she returned her attention to me. I was now standing there, arms crossed, still looking just as confused.

"You really aren't from any where around here, are you?" She asked as she looked me over again.

"I told you, and sand man that I am not from around here, I don't even know where the hell here is! No one will tell me anything!" I stomped my foot and instantly realized I was acting much like a spoiled five year old who wasn't getting their way. I didn't really care anymore.

"Sunagakure in the country of wind." Kankuro said from behind me.

I turned, "Hey, can you speak English so I know what the hell 'soona gah curry' is?" Why did they keep on using words I didn't understand?

"Sunagakure is the Hidden Village of Sand. It's right in front of us beyond that gate. Gaara, our brother, is the Kazekage, or leader of our village. At least tell me you know what Ninja are, right?" Kankuro said. He sounded as though he was speaking to the five year old mentality I had just been showing.

I nodded, "Duh, they dress all in black, throw things, and kill with swords, right?" I silently prayed that we had the same explanation for a Ninja. I watched a lot of those badly dubbed movies from Japan and it was always the same.

Cat boy shook his head, "No. Me and Temari are Ninjas, as is Gaara and anyone in the village you see wearing this." He tapped the metal plate on the forehead of his hood. It looked like it had a crude looking hourglass etched into it. I noticed that Temari had one around her neck.

I scratched the back of my head, "Alright. So you all are ninja's, your brother is the leader of the whole lot of you, and you live in..." I couldn't remember how to pronounce the name of their village, "That village over there, and this is the country of the wind?"

Temari nodded and Kankuro shrugged, "You make is sound so complicated. Just come with us to the village and we'll hopefully get all this straightened out." Kankuro said as he started walking towards the village. I shrugged and followed him and Temari walked beside me. I tried to start conversation with her.

"So you're a ninja?"

She nodded.

"Have you killed people before?"

Again she nodded. I raised an eyebrow.

"How? You don't have a sword." I pointed out.

"I have kunai and shruiken, not to mention my battle fan. I don't need a stupid sword."

I had to suppress a laugh. Battle fan? Who the hell was she kidding, you can't kill anyone with a damn fan. Apparently she either could read my thoughts, or everyone doubted the power of the fan because she stopped me and pulled the big metal bar from her back. It slid open into a pale tan folding fan with purple circles. My eyes widened slightly, I didn't know you could get them that big. Looking at that thing she held so lightly in her hand made me realize something, she didn't need a stupid sword. I glanced over my shoulder to see Kankuro had stopped and had walked back towards us. He seemed to have found our exchange amusing.

"What about you, Cat Head?" I could tell already he didn't like his nickname. He glared at me and pulled the big bundle off his back. At first glance, it reminded me of the mummies they had at the museum in the city. It even had a tuft of hair sticking out of the top, "What, you mummify people?"

He shook his head, "Puppeteer. I control puppets with my chakra and use them as weapons. I'd show you, but I just want to go home, and it's a hassle wrapping them back up." He said as he slung the thing over his shoulder again.

I shrugged, "Alright, O' Fearless Leader. Lead on."

Kankuro rolled his eyes, but led us to the city gates. It only took about a half hour more of walking before we got there, and the two guards standing watch let us pass with no problems, although, they did give me some strange looks. I tried to ignore it and think only of following the person in front of me, Kankuro. We had only walked a little ways from the gate when Cat Head stopped us.

"Temari, take care of her. I have to go deal with some stuff before it gets too late." And with that, he was gone. This time, he just up and disappeared, unlike his brother, who dissolved.

"Normal, right?" I asked as I looked at Temari.

She nodded, "Yes, normal. Now, come with me, I need to get you cleaned up and a little less obvious here in the village."

I wasn't about to argue with her. I had noticed that more and more people were looking me over and seeming a little too curious for their own good. I followed the blonde before me to a decently sized building. It seemed like her home, because she slipped off her sandals and left the fan by the door. I slipped off my sneakers and followed her up a flight of stairs.

"There's a bath in there. Clean yourself up while I try to find something to fit you. You look about my size so it shouldn't be too hard." She said with a smile and I shrugged.

A bath sounded really nice right about now. I walked in and took stock of my surroundings. There was a deep Jacuzzi sized bath tub with all sorts of bath salts and other bottles lined up all around it. I silently praised god for the awesome bath bounty. It was like walking into the Hilton.

I turned on the tap and adjusted the water so it was just short of scalding hot. While the bath was running, I slipped out of my cut off jeans, shirt, and under things. I wasn't too worried about someone walking in. It was only me and Temari here after all.

As soon as the bath was full I slipped into the water and was surprised at how much sand rinsed off of me and floated to the bottom of the tub. First things first, I gotta wash my hair. I could feel it matted to my head after walking in the sun all day. I dunked my head under the water for almost a full minute before comming back up to find the shampoo. There were a few too many bottles to choose from, so I picked the bottle that smelled like my body spray at home. It was a ginger scented shampoo so it seemed more normal than the other fruity stuff. After I rinsed the suds out of my hair I scrubbed myself down with a luffa and winced when I got to my knees. I had forgotten about the cuts and scrapes there. I washed the rest of myself before coming back and rubbing some soap on my knees with my hands and cursed. The soap stung like a bitch.

There was a knock on the door.

"Yes?"

"It's Temari, I found some clothes for you."

"Come on in then." I said as I drew my knees up to my chest and kind of hugged my knees so not to be totally exposed to the other woman.

Temari walked it and closed the door quickly behind her and set the pile of clothing on the sink by the door.

"You find everything okay?" She asked as she leaned back against the closed door.

I nodded, "Yeah, I hope you don't mind, I used some of the ginger shampoo." I could feel my face reddening slightly.

She shook her head and smiled, "Nah, it's alright. It was part of a gift basket I got from some woman when I helped her with her spa. I never really was that big of a fan of ginger."

I nodded, I knew how that went, "It doesn't seem to be popular anywhere I go." I said with a slight laugh and looked at the clothes Temari had brought for me. She noticed my line of sight.

"I'll be waiting down stairs. When you're ready, we need to go see Gaara." She said and left before I could reply.

I sighed, I didn't want to get out of the bath, but the water was already beginning to cool so I might as well see what she brought me.

I stepped out of the water and wrapped a towel around me and stepped over to the clothes. They were black and red in color. Almost the exact same shade as my hair. Nifty. On top was a tank top-ish looking shirt. I picked it up and held it out at arms length. It was dark red in color with a fishnet pattern over the chest and around the neck. I pulled it on and looked at myself in the mirror. It actually looked pretty good on me. Next, the pants. Plain black pants. Nothing new there. I pulled those on and looked at the rest of the clothes she had brought me. There was a pair of red sandals with black soles, much like she had been wearing. Not bad, seemed to match everything else so I set those aside and picked though the few remaining things. There was a pair of gloves in the same red color as my shirt, they were fingerless and had little metal plates on the back of each one, but that didn't bother me. I pulled those on and looked at the last remaining article of clothing. It was a simple black bandana. I tied it around my head and knotted it in the back and looked at myself in the mirror. I felt out of place, but I sure as hell didn't look it anymore. I grabbed the pile of old clothes and walked out of the bathroom.

I headed down stairs and found Temari waiting for me by the door.

"Just leave your old clothes here, we'll deal with them later." She said impatiently.

I nodded and pulled on the sandals she had brought for me and followed her out the door.


	4. Chapter Three

Disclaimer: Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro are not mine, Amanda is however. Keep your grubby paws off. XD

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I followed Temari down what appeared to be the main street cutting right through the middle of the city. It didn't take long before we came to what apparently was the Main Building that Gaara had mentioned. Temari led me up a flight of stairs the brought us to the entrance of the building. All decoration on the building was in a sky blue color, which I found strange. The rest of the city was colored the reds and browns of the dessert, but this place sorta stood out like a sore thumb.

Temari pushed the huge doors open and grabbed me by the wrist. Guess I was lagging a little bit and looking around. Who could blame me? There were all sorts of statues of stuff. From birds to even raccoons. How strange.

Temari led me down a side hall and to a regular looking door and knocked twice before there was an answer.

"Enter."

Granted the voice was slightly muffled by the wood of the door, I knew it at once, it was Temari's brother, Gaara.

About here is when Temari let me go and pushed open the door and led me inside. It seemed we were in an office of sorts. Filing cabinets and book shelves lined the walls except for the far wall, which was a giant window looking out at the city. IN front of the window was a desk and a chair. The chair had it's back to us, but I could make out the tuft of red that showed that a certain red head was sitting in the chair.

Gaara slowly turned in the chair to face us. He looked me over and I swear to god there was a hint of a smile on his face. I scowled and crossed my arms over my chest.

"I'm here. So what do you want?" I asked. I wasn't happy. I didn't want to be here, I wanted to be at home. I wanted to be curled up on my couch watching TV and drinking an Irish coffee. Or even eating Chinese take-out.

"I want to know how and why you are here."

"For starter's, I walked here, and I'm here because you asked me to be." I said shortly.

"Baka. He wants to know why and how you ended up in the dessert." Temari said with a sigh.

"First things first, I don't know what the hell 'Baka' means, but it didn't sound nice. Next time I hear that directed towards me, I'm going to throw something. Secondly, I haven't the slightest clue." I said, casting a sideways glare at Temari who shook her head and sighed again.

When I looked back at Gaara, my eyes narrowed. He had some sort of something in his hand. It was shaped like a star and was clearly made of metal. A small voice in the back of my head said shruiken, and I remembered seeing something similar in a movie once, before I could fully register what was going on, he threw it at me. Almost as if by instinct, I dropped to the ground and rolled to the side.

"You're hiding something, Baka." Gaara seemed to be taunting me.

The shruiken was only a foot away and I had it in my hand and had thrown it at him before I even realized it. A wall of sand shot up between Gaara and the shruiken and all I could do was gape at him. What the hell was he?

Trying to brush off what had just happened, I crossed my arms again, "I told you I would throw something."

"How did you...I mean, you said..." Temari looked just as confused as I felt.

Gaara held out his hand and the shruiken dropped harmlessly to his waiting palm and he looked at it, and then looked at me, "You say you're not from around here, you have never heard of this country, but you throw a shruiken like a Jounin. Explain."

What the hell was a 'Jounin'? I looked at him for a minute before looking at the ground, "I told you, I don't know. All I do know is that I was closing the bar and when I walked outside, there was a group of guys across the street and then there was an explosion. I woke up in the dessert a little ways from where Temari and Cat hea- I mean, Kankuro found me. I swear, it's the truth. I don't know how I threw that thing at you. But I guess Fair is fair, you threw it at me first."

Gaara watched me closely for a minute or two before looking at Temari, "Send a message to Tsunade Hokage-sama. Request an Elite Jounin from Konoha to come here. Explain the situation."

Temari nodded and disappeared. I looked at the spot she was just at and my shoulders slumped. I was left alone with Sand man.

"You have very good aim. If it wasn't for the sand, you might have killed me."

I looked up to see that Gaara had moved from his seat behind the desk and was now leaning on the front of the desk, looking me over. I felt like a mouse cornered by a cat. Not a good feeling.

"What would you have done if I hadn't moved?" I asked him. What would he have done?

"If I had guessed wrong, you would have been either dead or severally injured." He seemed serious, and yet slightly amused.

"What exactly is it you guessed then? That I'm an assassin sent to kill you or something? I work in a bar, I mix drinks for obstinate old men who find their joy in harassing me and hitting on me for six or seven hours a night." I said with a scowl.

"Then feel lucky you ended up here and no where near Konoha. From what I hear, there are plenty of perverted old men there." He smiled slightly and I looked away. Leave it up to a man to find humor after a near death situation. I noticed how he had avoided answering my first question.

Time to change the subject, "So what's a 'Jounin'?"

"Highest ranking Ninja in a village besides ANBU or Kazekage."

"You're the Kazekage, right?" I asked as I looked him over. He couldn't be any older than me, and he wasn't much taller than me. He reminded me of one of the guys in my drama class in high school.

"That's correct. My sister, my brother, and I are the highest ranking ninja in this village. Due to the recent wars, we are currently at an extreme loss." This little tid bit of information seemed to anger him. He turned and looked out the window and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Okay, now that this is all settled, can I go?" I wanted to sleep. I was tired. I could wait until tomorrow to eat. Sleep always comes first with me.

"You are going to stay here until the Jounin from Konoha arrives."

"By here you mean in this building?" I was fully awake now. I didn't want to stay in this stuffy building.

"Correct. There are rooms on the upper levels for guests such as yourself. You will be staying in the room adjacent to mine so I can keep an eye on you."

"I guess the bright side of it all is that it's not a prison, right?"

Gaara didn't reply. I sighed.

A few minutes later Temari returned, "Gaara, I sent the message. I need to go and prepare for my mission." She gave me a look of sympathy and left again.

"Alright, enough of this silence. Where is my room? I'm tired." I said as I took a few steps towards Gaara.

He glanced over his shoulder at me before walking right past me, "This way." and he too left the room.

This has definatly got to be a bad dream. I'm going to go to sleep, and wake up in my bed, in my house, and be late for work as usual.


	5. Chapter Four

Disclaimer: In no way, shape, or form do I own anything Naruto. I do own Amanda. She's nothing special, don't know why anyone would want her anyways.

A/N: Sorry the last chapter was so short. I wasn't quite sure how to end it, and I was running out of Ideas as far as conversation goes. This one should be a bit longer. Anyways, on with the story!

Gaara led me down winding halls, all darkened except for the occasional candle set on a stand on the wall. I didn't like it. Too dark, too many halls, and it was far too quiet for me. I wanted the break the silence and attempt to start conversation, but I couldn't think of anything to say. So far, the questions that could be answered had been. We finally came to a set of stairs and Gaara broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Your room is at the top of this flight of stairs. Mine is right next door. I don't suggest you wander around after dark without an escort, although, I highly doubt you'll be able to find your way. This building is created like a maze. Many dead ends and traps for those who don't know the layout." Gaara said as he looked up the stairs into the darkness.

I frowned, "So I'm a prisoner?"

"I'm not putting you in a cell. You'll have a room, with a door and a lock." he said matter of factly.

"A lock?"

"On the inside."

"Ah." There was nothing else to say, so I followed him as he started up the stairs. There was a small landing and almost directly in front of us was a large wooden door with some sort of symbol painted in red in a black circle. I raised an eyebrow but shrugged it off as he led me inside. He reached over and flicked a switch and the room was bathed in pale yellow light.

Good, electricity. That was a good sign. I looked around the room. There were two other doors, one was clearly the bathroom, it was cracked open and I could see a tub on the other side. Another plus, plumbing. The other door appeared to be a closet. It was much slimmer than the bathroom door and there was a coat hook on the back of it. In the center of the far wall was a large bed, had to be a king sized mattress. It was low to the ground, but that seemed to be the style. It had a sheer red canopy and there had to be about ten or twelve pillows.

"Satisfied?" Gaara interrupted my examination of the room. He was leaning against the wall, eyes closed.

"Yeah. It's fine." I walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it. It was surprisingly soft.

He was looking at me now. He had that look like he was unsure of what to say, but that quickly disappeared as he turned to leave.

Just as he was about to shut the door, I called out to him, "Hey, good night. And thanks for believing me."

He paused, shrugged his shoulders and left, closing the door behind him with a click.

"Tch, what an ass." I said as I kicked off my sandals and fell back on the bed.

My eyes felt heavy, like I hadn't slept for days. I guess first thing's first. I sat up and pulled off the gloves and the bandana and set them on the small night table. I stood up and crossed the room to the door and switched off the light. It was time to get some sleep. I was dead tired and there wasn't much else I could do. He had pretty much told me I can't wander around without someone with me, so there was no need to leave the room. I had a bathroom, and a bed. What more could I ask for at the moment.

I threw myself down on the bed and before I knew it I was out like a light.

--

A pounding on the door pulled me from my sleep. I groaned and rolled over. Part of me didn't want to open my eyes. I could tell from the soft blankets and the spongy bed that everything that had happened yesterday had not been a dream. I was still in the little room with the giant bed. The pounding continued.

I rolled off the bed onto my feet and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, "Ah'right, 'm come'n."

I shuffled to the door and ran a hand through my hair and cracked the door open and peeked out. It was Cat Head, "Wha'd you want?" I said and yawned.

He narrowed his eyes, "Did I wake you up? It's like almost three in the afternoon." He put his hands on his hips much like my dad used to. He had never approved of my sleeping habits.

I shrugged, "I was tired. Walking through a deser-HEY!"

Kankuro had pushed the door open and walked into the room, "I got something for you, might keep you from getting bored until the envoy from Konoha gets here." He said and sat down in the middle of the floor.

I shut the door and glared at him. He looked up, clearly unaware of the trespass, "Sit down." He said and pointed at the floor in front of him.

I sighed and sat down in front of him, "So what do you have for me?"

He pulled a deck of what looked like oversized playing cards. They were navy blue with a thin white border. The blue was dotted with golden star bursts. I looked at him and shrugged, "So what, we're going to play poker?"

He shook his head, "They're Tarot Cards. I bought them in Konoha on my last mission, they're supposed to tell you your future or something like that. Temari said she didn't want anything to do with it, Gaara doesn't care for things like this, and there's no one else to do this with, so I figured we could kill an hour or so." He gave that 'Please please please' look that my sister got when she didn't have anyone else to play with.

I shrugged, "Sure. What do I have to do?"

He handed me the deck of cards, "Just shuffle, I'll do the rest."

I did as was expected of me. I shuffled the cards and then handed him the deck and he pulled the card off the top and laid it on the floor.

"Ten of swords. This represents you. Seems about right, mental anguish." He snickered.

"Ha ha. Funny." It was about right. Oh well, he could always be making this stuff up just to mess with my head. If he was, in fact telling the truth about the meaning of the card, it had to be luck of the draw.

He pulled the next card and placed it long ways on the first card, "The Hermit. This is your immediate influence."

I nodded as he pulled the next and placed it above the first two, "Justice. Interesting for a goal."

Me, want justice? Ha. Right. I believe in a little thing called Karma. You get what you give. I watched as he pulled the fourth card and placed it to the right of the first two.

"Distant past, Five of cups. A friend-ship without meaning." He glanced up at me and I narrowed my eyes.

"So far it's true, isn't it?"

I replied with my standard issue glare and silence. It was true, and it was bothering me.

He watched me for a moment before pulling a fifth card and placing it below the crossed cards.

"And for recent past we have, The knight of wands. Advancement to the unknown." He quirked an eyebrow as he told me the explanation to the card. He waited for a second, glanced at me, and pulled a sixth card, and placed it face up to the left of the first two cards. It was upside down.

"Inverted king of pentacles. That's not good." This time he didn't tell me the meaning and when he reached to pull the next card, I stopped him.

"Why isn't it good? Tell me what the sixth card means." I was now very curious. Everything seemed to be dead on, and I wanted to know why this card in particular was 'not good'.

He pulled his hand back, "It represents a future influence. The King of pentacles is usually good, but because it's upside down, the meaning changes. With it being inverted like that, it stands for corruption, or someone who will use any means to achieve what they want."

I looked at the card and pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them.

"Do you want me to stop?" Kankuro looked slightly worried with the drawing of the cards.

I shook my head, "No. It's just cards, they don't mean anything."

He shrugged and pulled four cards, and placed them one by one, face down to the right of the first six in a column, starting from the bottom. I watched him as he flipped over the bottom most card.

"This one is another one about you, it's the Eight of Pentacles. It means you're a quick learner, and you put forth a lot of effort in what ever you do." He didn't even look at me as he flipped over the next card.

"Temperance. Usually a good thing, but it's inverted. This describes the environmental factors that influence you. Pretty much impatience."

I nodded. It made sense. Gaara didn't seem to have any patience for me, and even Temari seemed a little short. I glanced at Kankuro who gave me a cheesy grin.

"And your inner emotions are..." He flipped over the next card. It was also upside down, "Inverted three of swords. It means you're confused and feeling alienated." He narrowed his eyes at the card and shrugged, "Don't worry, it can't get any worse." He said, trying to reassure me as he flipped the last card. He didn't even look at the card, but I did and the look on my face said it all.

The card he had just flipped had a black robed figure on it. Not really scary but the fact that the body under the robe was a skeleton, and the field that the skeleton was standing one was littered with mangled bodies. The five letters on the bottom of the card clearly read 'Death'.


	6. Chapter Five

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me. If it did, I sure as hell wouldn't be making up my own stories. Amanda is mine though.

A/N: Sorry about the Tarot session. I had a deck sitting out and figured it would be an easy way to figure out the story line. Those are the actual cards that I drew for this story. Creepy huh?

Kankuro looked down at the card and I swear I heard him make a noise much like a growl. He swept up all the cards and returned them to the deck before putting the deck back in his pocket. He looked at me and had one of those, 'Maybe this was a bad idea' looks. He stood up and walked towards the door, but stopped just short.

"Oh yeah, you wanna go for lunch? Gaara gave me the okay to take you out if you wanted."

That must have been the initial reason for his visit.

I stared at the spot where the Death card had been for a second before standing up and walking to the nightstand, "Yeah sure, just give me five minutes, I need to clean up a little bit."

He nodded, "Alright, I'll be waiting at the bottom of the stairs." He said and left, closing the door behind him.

I grabbed the gloves and the bandana off the nightstand and walked into the bathroom. It was not quite as nice as the one from last night, but it wasn't a motel size bathroom either. There was a decent sized tub with a detachable shower head, a sink, and a toilet. There was a mirror over the sink and when I looked into it, I barely recognized myself. I was still pale from the damn Tarot cards, and I still looked tired. My arms had a slight tinge of red, the beginnings of a sun burn, or possibly a tan. I prayed for the latter. I tied on the bandana and washed my face in the sink. I dried my hands on a towel and straightened out my shirt and ran a hand through my hair once more. Best I could do. It didn't look like there was any shampoo or anything else in the bathroom. Apparently this room hadn't been used recently.

I walked back into the room, pulled on my sandals and walked out of the room and into the hall way. I could see Kankuro sitting on the bottom most stair, waiting for me while shuffling through his deck of cards. I narrowed my eyes and turned to the door and closed it a little harder than I had intended. When I turned back he was standing and the cards were nowhere to be seen. I headed down the stairs and pulled on the gloves and stuffed my hands into my pockets.

"So what's on the menu?" I asked as I neared Kankuro.

He shrugged, "What do you want?"

It was my turn to shrug, "Doesn't matter as long as I can get a good drink." I said with a sideways glance at him. That was one of my universal solutions to hard times. Drown myself in a bottle. So far it hasn't really helped, but it hasn't hurt anything either.

"How old are you, Amanda-san? You don't look old enough to drink..."

"One thing before I answer that, what the hell is this 'san' you add to the end of my name? Does it mean something or is that a quirk of yours?"

"Oh, yeah. It's a suffix for people who we don't know very well, or are at a higher lever than we are. There's also 'Chan', 'Kun', 'Sama', and 'Koi'." he paused to make sure I was following the explanation, which I was, so far, so he continued, "When a guy adds 'Chan' to your name, he likes you. Girls use it with their friends and also for little kids. Same goes for 'Kun', but girls use it towards guys. 'Sama' is a form of highest respect. As for 'Koi', well, you don't hear it often in public, but it stands for..." He paused and held up his hand, with his pinky finger extended.

I raised an eyebrow, "And that means what?"

"Lover." He said simply and turned to walk down the hall, but he paused and turned slightly to look at me, "You going to answer my question or what?"

"Twenty two." I said as I caught up to him, he shrugged and led me down the hall and after a few minutes he led to me to main entry way. I could see the door from where we were but I could also see a particular red head who was currently on my shit list. I didn't like him at all, sure, at first, there was the potential for a 'nice guy' ranking in my book, but the minute he threw something at me that could have killed me, all hope was lost. I shot a glare in his direction and he returned it before disappearing in a shower of sand.

"He likes doing that, doesn't he?"

Kankuro looked over at me, "Who likes doing what?"

"Your brother and his disappearing sand act."

"Oh that. Yeah, it's what he does. He likes other things, but I'll let you figure them out for yourself." Kankuro said as he pushed open the heavy wooden door and let me step outside into the blazing sunlight.

I shielded my eyes and squinted, inside seemed like absolute darkness compared to out here, "I could care less what Sand man does in his free time." I said with a scowl.

Kankuro looked at me curiously, "I thought you guys hit it off pretty well, I mean, he didn't kill you right off the bat."

"No, not right off the bat, but he almost did last night."

"Yeah, I heard, but then again, you dodged. There's something different about you, Amanda-san."

I rolled my eyes, "Oh good god. Stop calling me that. Just Amanda, or Manda, or what ever else you want to call me, just not Amanda-san."

Kankuro grinned, "Well, I know you don't want me to call you Baka..."

I glared at him and balled my hand into a fist, he saw this and shrugged, "So what the hell does that mean anyway...it sounds like an insult." I asked.

"Idiot, basically." He said as he started walking down the street.

I followed him silently down the street. I was too preoccupied with the various little shops that lined the main street. There were clothing shops, small snack stands, and even a few weapon shops. It wasn't until Kankuro stopped that I realized that we had walked all the way across the city.

He glanced over his shoulder at me, "Well, this is it." he said as he walked into a small building.

I followed him inside and to a small table in the back of the restaurant. A waitress came over and he ordered a bottle of Sake and two bowls of ramen. Strangely enough, I knew what both were. I've had Sake before at a friend's house, and I lived off of ramen throughout my high school years.

"So, any more questions?" Kankuro asked as the waitress set a bottle and two small cups on the table between us.

I shrugged, "No, not at the moment." I paused for a second, "Well actually, yeah. Where can I get some more clothes?"

Kankuro grinned, "As soon as Temari gets back from her mission, she's going to have some stuff dropped off at your room in the Kazekage building. You'll just have to last until then. She should be back before nightfall." He said as he poured sake in the cups and placed one in front of me, "Drink up, we've got all day. Gaara doesn't have anything more he wants to ask you." He said as he downed what was in his cup and poured himself another.

I nodded and followed suit. It was strong stuff. A few more cups of this stuff, and I would be flat on my back, wither very drunk, or passed out.

The both of us made it through the whole bottle before the actual food was brought to us, with another bottle of sake. I think I surprised Cat Head a bit when he saw me use chopsticks. It's amazing what you can learn after ordering Chinese take-out for three months. Surprisingly enough, the Ramen was pretty good, better than that instant stuff I had at home.

It wasn't until I finished cup number twelve that I noticed Kankuro was talking to someone standing behind me. I leaned my head back and found myself looking up at Gaara, and he didn't look to happy.

"I said you could take her out, not get her drunk." Gaara had his arms crossed.

"Hey, she's old enough. There's nothing wrong with a few drinks with dinner." Kankuro said with a shrug.

Gaara looked down at me and shook his head, "I can tell she's had more than a few."

"Who cares 'ow many I've 'ad." I said as I glared up at Sand man, "Like 'e said, Ah'm old 'nuff." I crossed my arms over my chest and stared down at cup number thirteen, which Kankuro had just filled for me.

I reached for it but my hand stopped a few inches from the cup. I narrowed my eyes, there was a trail of sand going from around my wrist, down to the floor, and then back up to the gourd on Gaara's back.

"'Ey, lemme go." I said and tried to brush off the sand.

"You've had enough. You're coming back to the Kazekage Building with me. Now." Gaara said with that demanding tone that drove me nuts. Be it my parents, my boss, or any one in general, when people took that tone with me, I never listened, even if it was for my own good. Yeah, I know, I'm stubborn.

I shook my head and looked away from Gaara and focused on a painting on the wall across the restaurant.

There was a sudden pressure on my wrist and I winced.

"The envoy from Konoha arrived a few minutes ago, so you are coming back with me weather you want to or not." And with that said, I felt myself being lifted from my seat.

I squealed and looked down to see that my waist was encased by sand and I was hovering about three inches off the ground and less than a foot in front of me was Gaara, glare still intact.

"Put me down."

"Are you going to come quietly?" The sand loosened slightly and I looked down to see some of it drifting to the floor.

"Can I have my last cup?" I asked with a slight pout.

He shook his head.

I glared back at him, "Then I guess I have no choice." I said and relaxed slightly.

He nodded and the sand drifted back into his gourd. He looked over at Kankuro and opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted as my hand flew up and smacked him. His eyes widened and he stared at me in shock, one hand on his cheek where my palm had met his face.

"Don't ever _ever_, grab me like that again." I turned on my heel and walked for the exit, but a hand on my wrist stopped me, I tensed and looked to see who it was, it was Cat Head, looking at me like I had just cursed in church.

"What?" I demanded.

He nodded to Gaara and let me go. I looked back over my shoulder and was slightly surprised. Gaara was staring at me, open mouthed.

"What? Never offended a woman before?"

Sand man seemed to be at a loss for words, so I shrugged.

"Well, I'm heading back. Stop me, follow me, or what ever." I said and left.


	7. Chapter Six

Disclaimer: Naruto not mine. Amanda mine. Rawr.

A/N: So who else out there is as shocked as Gaara? Heh.

I had made it all of fifteen feet out the door before someone grabbed me roughly by the arm. I tensed and was ready to swing when I noticed it was Gaara. The look of shock was gone and he was back to his normal stony faced expression. I relaxed and let him drag me back to the Kazekage Building. What else was I going to do? I had just smacked him in a restaurant full of people and probably embarrassed the hell out of him. Besides all that, I was feeling a little unsteady on my feet. Looks like Sand Man was right, I did have a little too much to drink.

We came to the building a few minutes later, and a rush of sand pushed open the heavy doors and he pushed me thought, none too gently. I stumbled, but he caught me by the arm and pulled me along a hallway I hadn't seen yet and into a window less room. In the center of the room was a single chair and he pushed me down into it. He turned to leave but I stopped him.

"Hey, what's going on?" I demanded as I made to stand.

He stopped, "Stay seated." He said with out turning around and left the room, shutting the door behind him and I heard a click. The bastard had locked me in.

I sighed and leaned back in the chair, trying to get comfortable. This must be my punishment. Solitary Confinement. Great, I suddenly felt like I was in a prison.

I didn't know how much time had passed, but it seemed like forever when the door finally opened. Standing in the doorway was a blonde woman, who didn't look too much older than me. She had her arms crossed over her too-big-to-be-natural chest and looked me over.

"Who're you?" I demanded with a glare.

"My name is Tsunade; I am the Hokage of Konoha." She said as she crossed the room and stood about five feet away from me. She looked at me expectantly.

"What?"

"It's only polite to give your name once someone has given you theirs."

I shrugged, "Yeah well, it's not polite to lock someone in a room by themselves without telling them what's going on." I snapped back.

The Tsunade woman raised an eyebrow, "True. But seeing as how you are a guest of Gaara-Sama, you should over look such disrespects and be the better person. Am I right?"

I shrugged again, "Yeah I guess so. My name is Amanda." I paused before adding, "And don't go adding 'san' or anything after it. That's annoying."

She nodded, "Alright, Amanda. Would you like to tell me how you ended up here?"

"I'm here in general because Gaara tossed me in here, but as in how I ended up in this city, no clue." I said with a slight pout. How many people were going to ask me the same question?

"Well, that's why I'm here. Gaara-Sama wants to know why you're here, and I am very curious about the matter as well. Would you please tell me what happened before Temari-san and Kankuro-san found you in the desert?" She was being polite. It was a change compared to Gaara.

I told her about how I was closing up at the Restaurant and about the men across the street and then the explosion. She remained quiet until I finished.

"And how exactly is it that you know how to throw a shruiken?"

I shrugged, "Gaara asked me the same thing, I think it was more reflex than anything. He threw it at me first though, so I think it was only fair."

She nodded, but it seemed like she was just indicating that she was listening. She looked over to the door, "Alright, you can come in now."

I looked up and saw a man, about six inches taller than me, with silverish colored hair. I quirked an eyebrow as I looked him over. He was wearing an olive green vest over a dark blue jumpsuit type deal. His face was covered by a mask the same color his pants and he had a bandana around his head with a metal plate similar to Temari's. Similar except that it had a leaf like symbol on it and it was cockeyed so that it covered his left eye. All I could see of his face was his right eye. Something about his outfit looked familiar.

"I trust you were listening?" She asked the man.

He nodded, "Yeah. It doesn't seem like she's making it up, but it doesn't sound all too believable either." He said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

I snapped my fingers and pointed at the newcomer, "That's it. They were wearing an outfit like his, that's why he looks familiar." I said aloud. I didn't mean to.

"Eh? Like mine?" The man sounded slightly interested but looked more or less, bored.

"Are you sure?" Tsunade asked as she turned back to face me.

I nodded, "Yeah, same vest and blue underneath. I could see it in the street lights..."

"Well, there's a start. That means they were Jounin." Tsunade said with a hint of a smile on her face.

"What the hell would a bunch of high ranking ninjas want with a bartender from a small town?" I demanded and stood up.

"Oi, how do you know what Jounin are?" Silver hair demanded as he took a few steps closer to me.

I held up my hands, "I asked Gaara last night after he said I threw the shruiken like a Jounin." I said quickly and sat back down.

"Curious little thing, aren't we?" She asked me with a wink.

I shrugged and looked away and I thought back to the Tarot session with Kankuro. The seventh card he pulled had been something about learning. Well, it looked like I was doing a fair share of it.

"Kakashi, can you go fetch Gaara-Sama? I think he needs to hear what I think on the matter, as well as Amanda here." I noticed that she had, for the second time, left off the 'san'. I was beginning to like this woman.

"I'm right here, so say what you have to say."

I jumped. The voice came from right behind me and I turned in my seat and paled slightly, Gaara was standing directly behind me, he still looked very angry, and his cheek was still slightly red from where I had slapped him. I scooted to the very edge of my seat, trying to get as far from his as possible while remaining seated.

"Ah, how nice of you to join us Gaara-Sama." Tsunade said with a nod in his direction before speaking again, "I've heard of something similar happening before, granted this was over twenty years ago, and all who where present are dead. From the records that remain, it's something along the lines of a Kuchiyose."

"But why her? She's nothing special."

I wanted to hit him again, but seeing as how he was angry, and there were two other, obviously high ranking people present, I decided against it.

"Well, the last case was just the same. But Konoha almost lost the war because of it." Tsunade sounded troubled, or maybe annoyed.

"And we are in the middle of another war." The silver haired guy said. What did Tsunade say his name was, Kakashi or something?

"In any case, she needs to be protected. Who ever performed the Kuchiyose obviously thinks she's worthy for something, so keep an eye on her. Don't let her leave the village." Tsunade said with a tone that was similar to a mother scolding a child.

"After today, she'll be lucky to leave the building again." Gaara said angrily.

I flinched. Yup, he was really mad at me, "Serves your sandy ass right for grabbing me like you did." I said bitterly.

"What?" Gaara demanded.

I jumped out of the chair and jumped behind Tsunade, I had said what I was thinking again. Next time, ten is my limit.

Tsunade looked at me curiously and then returned her gaze to the fuming Gaara who had taken a few steps in my direction, "Keep her safe Gaara. I expect her to be alive and well the next time I come out here." Tsunade said and turned and headed for the door.

My eyes widened as my human shield walked away. I was dead for sure, and if not dead, maimed. No doubt about it.

"Don't leave me with him! He's gonna kill me!" I pleaded with Tsunade as she continued walking.

Tsunade paused, but it was Kakashi who spoke, "You're in safe hands with him. He's a very good fighter."

"You'll be fine. He knows that if he kills you, he'll have to deal with me." Tsunade said with a glance over her shoulder before she and Kakashi left the room, leaving me alone with Gaara.

I bit my bottom lip and watched him walk towards me.

He stopped about a foot in front of me and looked down at me. It was then that I realized that he was, in fact, a few inches taller than me, "Go to your room and stay there unless you are called by me. Understand?" He sounded so angry, his voice was more of a growl than anything.

"But I..." I started to protest, but he cut me off.

"Your room. Now."

With that said, I ran from the room, frustrated with myself for losing my temper, and frustrated with him for talking to me like a child.


	8. Chapter Seven

Disclaimer: Hasn't really changed much from the first 5 or so chapters.

A/N: Hope nobody has lost interest yet. It's only going to get better from here. I promise.

Somehow I had managed to find my room without getting lost. As I climbed the stairs, his original warning echoed in my head.

_This building is created like a maze. Many dead ends and traps for those who don't know the layout._

I paused at the top of the stairs and looked back down, half expecting to see Gaara, ready to pounce, but it wasn't Gaara that I spotted, but Temari. She waved at me and I gave her a half hearted smile. She jumped the stairs two at a time until she was standing on the one second from the top.

"Amanda, what's wrong? You look like hell."

I shrugged, "Well, other than your brother killing a really good buzz, and grounding me, and scaring the crap out of me, I'm just dandy."

Temari raised an eyebrow, "You got grounded?"

"Yeah, Gaara told me that I am not allowed to leave my room unless he calls for me. And that Tsunade lady said that the reason I'm here is because of something called 'Coochiyosay" or something. I dunno." I shrugged.

"The Kuchiyose technique? Wow...that kind of makes sense." Temari said with a nod.

"Well look, I'm going to my room, if you want, follow. I just don't need to get into any more trouble." I said and reached out to open the door.

"If you don't mind, I'll take you up on that offer, I have some stuff for you anyways." Temari said as she followed me in.

The first thing I did as soon as I walked into my room was kick off my sandals and flop down on the bed. Strangely enough, it had been remade during my absence.

Temari dropped a bag at the foot of my bed and nodded to it. I reached over and upended it on the bed and was thrilled to see that there was the bottle of shampoo that Temari had let me use at her house, along with half a dozen more shirts and three or four pairs of pants, and a few miscellaneous items...

"Tem-Chan, you're a godsend." I said as I popped the top to the shampoo and inhaled. I absolutely loved ginger.

"Did you just call me 'Tem-Chan'?" Temari asked me with a grin.

I stopped and looked at her for a moment, "Yeah, I think I did...please tell me I didn't sound like an idiot."

Temari shook her head, "No, that was fine, I guess this means we're friends." She said with a laugh.

"Phew, good. Kankuro gave me a crash course on the whole 'san' 'chan' 'sama' bit." At this Temari smiled.

"Seems like you're getting along with everyone."

I shook my head, "Not quite. I think your brother, Gaara, wants to kill me." I felt my face redden slightly.

"Oh? What did you do?" She looked curious. She hadn't heard yet? Maybe she had just gotten back.

"I hit him." I said and looked out the window.

"You did _what_!" She looked horrified.

"I just slapped him, he tried to keep me from the sake me and Kankuro were sharing after dinner." I didn't see what the big deal was.

"How is that possible? The sand stops all attacks..." She looked confused.

I narrowed my eyes, the sand? Oh yeah, last night...

_The shruiken was only a foot away and I had it in my hand and had thrown it at him before I even realized it. A wall of sand shot up between Gaara and the shruiken... _

"So it's like on auto pilot? He doesn't control it?" I was confused. Why would his sand stop a shruiken, but not my hand?

"No, he has control, but most of the time, it protects him on its own. That's how he got the nickname, Sabaku no Gaara, or Gaara of the Desert." Temari tapped her chin, trying to figure out two things. Why had Amanda been able to hit Gaara, and after hitting him, why was she sitting here before her unhurt?

"Tem-Chan, can I ask you something?"

"Hai, what is it?"

"What's Gaara's deal? The whole sand thing, and why is he an ass and you and Kankuro are nice? You're all related, right?" I was curious, and I figured now would be as good a time as ever, seeing as how I might not be going out for a long time.

"Hn, that's a complicated story, and I'm not sure if Gaara would appreciate you knowing, but..." She winked at me, "He didn't tell us not to tell you anything, and this also ties into the history of the area." Temari sat down next to me on the bed, "Listen closely, because I doubt Kankuro would tell you all this, and I know for sure Gaara would rather kill you then tell you anything.

I nodded and she started her story.

"Well, you see. Gaara is the youngest out of the three of us. Kankuro is the oldest. When Gaara was born, my father performed a jutsu."

I looked slightly confused

"A Technique. He sealed within my brother the demon raccoon of the desert, Shukaku. In the process my mother lost her life. Well, the whole process was to pretty much create a super weapon for the Sand against anyone who attacked. Growing up, Gaara never had any friends. All the children were afraid of him, including me and Kankuro. Well, by the time Gaara was six, my father had ordered several assassination attempts on him because of some accidents. Gaara had killed several of the villagers, but they were true accidents. He didn't know how to control the sand yet, so my father wanted to end the deaths and he was willing to kill his own son."

Temari paused and looked at me sadly, "The sand protected him each and every time. It wasn't until my father gave my uncle the order to assassinate Gaara, that he snapped. My uncle, Yashamaru and Gaara were really close. Yashamaru was always there to protect Gaara from the hatred of the villagers and the slander. It was sad really, all those years of looking after Gaara, and he had a deep hatred within his own heart. That was the only reason he accepted the order. In the end, Yashamaru failed, and died in the process. I think what made Gaara snap, was having the one person who seemed to care about him, try to kill him. Ever since then, he was cold to every one, and lived only for himself."

All I could do was stare at the blonde sitting beside me, "You have got to be kidding me."

"She's telling the truth."

I jumped and slipped off the bed onto the floor. Standing in the door way was a brown haired young man. He was kind of on the stocky side, but he was wearing a black tee-shirt and pants. He looked vaguely familiar.

"Don't sneak up on people, Kankuro. It's not nice." Temari reprimanded him.

"Kankuro? Cat Head Kankuro? Where's your face and ears?" I demanded as I stood.

Kankuro smirked, "Just got out of the shower, I'm not going to put all that on just to come down the hall and harass you." He rolled his eyes, "It's barely worth the effort to walk down the hall."

I stuck out my tongue, "Meanie. You'll have to come and visit me. I got grounded."

"Eh?" He looked slightly confused.

"Still drunk or something? Or do you not remember when your brother told me 'no more drinky drinky' and I hit him?"

"Oh that. Actually, I tried to block out the whole incident. I'm surprised you are still intact." he said as he entered the room, shut the door, and sat on the floor.

I shrugged, "That Hokage lady gave me a 'get out of jail free' card and told Gaara that he couldn't hurt me. So he confined me to my room. I'm going to be _so _bored." I said with a sigh and flung myself back onto the bed.

"Well, want another Tarot reading?"

I replied by flinging one of the large pillows that were on my bed, at him, "Keep those demon cards of evil doom away from me." I said and covered my face with the other pillow.

Temari laughed and Kankuro knocked the pillow away.

"Jeeze, I was kidding." He said defensively.

"You read her fortune, didn't you?" Temari asked.

I pushed the pillow off to see Kankuro nod.

"It wasn't good I take it?"

Kankuro shook his head, "It was creepy. But there was one card that had me stumped until I looked up more definitions on it." He said and pulled out the Hermit card from his pocket and showed Temari.

"What's so weird about the Hermit?" Temari seemed curious now.

"It came up as her immediate influence. Who do we know that has 'A tendency to withhold emotion'?" He asked with an amused expression on his face.

"Oh hell no!" I said and rolled over.

"No way..." Temari said, not quite believing what Kankuro was hinting at.

"Gaara." All three of us said in unison.

"What?" An all too familiar voice asked from the door.

I yelped, there was a sharp intake of breath from Temari, and Kankuro grunted.

"Damnit, can't you knock?" I demanded and sat up, but instantly wanted to take back the question.

Gaara fixed his glare on me. I shrank back slightly.

Temari and Kankuro both stood up at just about the same time and excused themselves.

"I have to go train, see you Amanda." Kankuro said as he left the room.

"I have to go clean, see ya Ah-Chan." Temari said as she followed him out.

Damn them both. They left me here, alone, with a psycho.

Gaara watched them both leave and looked at me, "You were talking about me."

It was more of a statement than a question, so I remained silent.

He continued to stand there and look at me. It was kind of un-nerving. After about two minutes of the mutual stare down, he turned to leave. And I got the bright idea to say what I was thinking, again.

"Hey. I feel bad about before." I said quietly and he stopped just short of the door way.

"What I mean to say is-"

"I don't need your pity." He cut my apology short and quickly left the room.

I glared at the spot where he had just been standing. It was a rare thing for me to apologize to anyone for anything, and here this...this guy, cut me off and denied it? Uh uh, nope, don't think so.

I jumped off the bed and ran out into the hall after him, he was halfway down the stairs, "Hey, HEY! Don't you walk away from someone when they're apologizing to you!' I yelled down to him.

He looked up and glared at me. That glare, it was always a damn glare. Would it kill him to have some variety in his life, maybe a frown, or a scowl, but no. Always had to be the glare.

"You left your room."

I looked at the floor and nodded, I was three feet outside of my door, standing at the top of the stairs, "Yeah, so?"

"I told you not to leave." The glare was gone, and now he just looked creepy, no emotion what-so-ever. He really was the Hermit from the Tarot reading. Creepy.

"And I told you not to walk away, but you did. So I think it's an even trade. So you can stand there and stare at me and be all amazed that I didn't listen to you..." Oh, what a shocker, me, not listen? Ha, "Or you can come back up here like a gentleman and listen to my apology and then I will go back in my room and you won't hear a peep from me the rest of the night."

To my surprise he actually turned and came back up the stairs. I backed up and walked into my room and waited for him. He stopped at the door way and waited. I didn't think that would work, but it did.

"You can come in, you know." I said and sat down on the bed again.

He took two steps in and leaned against the wall, looking at me with expressionless eyes again.

"What I was trying to say before you walked away was that I'm sorry for slapping you. You should know a few things about me. No one gets in the way of me drinking, I have no respect for authority, and I hate, absolutely _hate_, being treated like a child."

He shrugged, "Fine." And turned to leave.

"Don't you have anything to say?" I demanded.

He glanced over his shoulder and looked at me, "Not a peep. Remember?" and the he was out the door.

It took all the self control I had to keep myself from running to the door and yelling 'peep' as loud as I could. But I kept my word.


	9. Chapter Eight

Disclaimer: If you don't know it by now, re-read chapter two. . 

A/N: _"Kankuro? Cat Head Kankuro? Where's your face and ears?"_ snicker couldn't help myself. XD

I stayed true to my word and kept silent the rest of the night. Once or twice there was a soft knock on my door but I ignored it. There were only two people that it could be, and both had left me with sand man, so I wasn't happy with either.

I was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling when something tinked against one of the windows. With a sigh, I got up and looked out the window. Apparently I had failed to realize that my room looked down into a courtyard, and standing in the moonlight was Kankuro, still without his face paint and hood. He had a handful of pebbles. I opened the window.

"You mad at us?" He called up to me.

I nodded.

"You not speaking to us anymore?"

I shrugged.

"Then say something." He said as he dropped the pebbles on the ground.

I sighed. I had promised not to make any noise for the rest of the night, what was I supposed to do? I looked back in my room and noticed that there was a drawer in the nightstand. I pulled it open and there was a pad of paper and a pencil. I jotted down a quick note.

'I promised your brother I wouldn't make any noise for the rest of the night. If you want to talk, come up here, the door's unlocked.'

I balled it up and whipped it out the window at him. He caught it and looked slightly confused. I made the motion of opening a book in my hands and he unballed the paper and read it over. He looked back up at me and nodded before leaving the courtyard. A few minutes later there was a knock at my door. I crossed the room and opened it.

"Alright, first thing's first, why are you mad?" He demanded.

I walked back to the bed and sat down, "Because you guys left me alone with him."

"It would have been worse if he asked why we were talking about him. That's the only reason me and Temari left. Trust me."

I shrugged and leaned back on my elbows, "Is that why you were throwing stuff at my window?"

"Kind of. I also wanted to know what you said to Gaara after we left. He was acting weird all night." Kankuro said as he leaned against the wall.

"I apologized for hitting him."

Kankuro looked at me, the surprise clear on his face, "You did what?"

He sounded like Temari when I told her I hit Gaara.

"I said I was sorry." I laid back and resumed my stare down with the ceiling.

"Why? I think he deserved it."

I shrugged, "Maybe, but he didn't deserve what happened when you guys were kids." I said quietly. I was actually feeling bad for Sand Man. I was beginning to think that that was the reason I apologized.

"I...well. No, I guess not."

I looked over at Kankuro, "You guess not? Tch. You're a horrible _horrible_ mean person if you think that shit was justified." I said with a dark look.

"It wasn't justified, but I mean. He did kill people." Kankuro said defensively.

"Tem-Chan said they were accidents. And don't you go counting the crazies that tried to kill him. They deserved it." I snapped. It wasn't until I said this that I remembered that his uncle was one of the 'crazies'. I returned my gaze to the ceiling.

Kankuro was silent for a minute or two before I heard him leave. He shut the door with a click and my room fell back into the complete silence that I was slowly getting used to. I rolled over on my side and stared out the open window. I could faintly see the stars and there was a nice cool breeze. I don't know how long I was staring out the window when I heard noises outside. I wasn't sure what it was, so I got up and peered out.

Standing in the courtyard were three men, all dressed the same. The blue jump suit and olive vest get-up. I narrowed my eyes and shut the window. They looked like the same men who blew up the gas station. I leaned back against the wall and held my breath. Who the hell were they and why were they here?

Okay, think, think, think. I gotta tell someone, but who? Kankuro was pissed and I didn't know where Tem-Chan was...Gaara. He was my only option at the moment. But where was he?

I remembered what Gaara had said last night, _'Your room is at the top of this flight of stairs. Mine is right next door.'_

I slipped on my sandals and ran to the door. I opened it, switched off my light and ducked into the hall. It was dark and only the moonlight from the skylights lit the hall. I headed down the hall, the only way I could go and about twenty five feet from my door, was another. I took a deep breath and knocked.

"Come in." it was Gaara's voice, muffled by the door.

I pushed it open slowly and was welcomed with his usual glare.

"Why are you out of your room?" He demanded. He didn't look happy to see me in the least bit.

I pointed to his window, "There are people in the courtyard. Like the ones I saw before the explosion." I said quietly.

He looked at me curiously and then walked to his own window. After about two seconds, he turned and pushed past me and into the hall way, "Wait here." He said and dissolved into sand.

I sighed and leaned against the wall for about a minute before I heard voices in the courtyard. I ran to the window and peered out through the glass.

Gaara was standing off to one side and it looked like he had called out to the group. I opened the window a few inches and kneeled on the floor and looked and listened as best as I could.

"Who are you?" Gaara demanded of the three men.

All three turned to face Gaara, and none of them seemed too surprised to see him.

"Give us the woman." Demanded the biggest of the three. He looked like he was the leader.

The other two came up behind him and they formed a sort of triangle, with the big guy in front.

"Why would I do that?" Gaara sounded bored. He had his arms crossed and his eyes half closed.

"She belongs to us. Hand her over."

I raised an eyebrow, I belong to them? What the hell?

"She's in my possession now, so if you want her, you'll have to take her from me." Gaara said, he still sounded and looked bored with the whole situation. At least he wasn't giving me up. That was a good thing, right?

The big guy glanced at his two companions and they all moved so fast I could barely follow them. Big guy went right for Gaara head on, and the other two circled around him. All at once, they threw, what looked to me, like oversized needles.

I watched in disbelief as all the needles were stopped by Gaara's wall of sand and was surprised to see an amused look on Gaara's face.

The sand wall slowly crumbled and the needles fell to the ground. Once the sand was pooled at Gaara's feet he looked at the two smaller men and held out both hands, one towards each man.

"Sabaku Kyuu!" He yelled and both men were engulfed in sand.

I gasped as I heard their yells of mingled surprise and pain. It looked like it was the same thing that Gaara had done to me, but at a greater degree. He had only got my wrist and waist, not my whole body. I listened as the big guy spoke again.

"Sabaku no Gaara..." The man sounded surprised, and angry all at the same time.

"Hai. That is what some people call me. Others call me monster. Call me what you like, it'll be the last words your worthless ass will say." Gaara had a look of pure venom on his face as he closed both fists.

I screamed as I watched the two men literally explode. Blood rained down on Gaara and the last of the intruders, but the big guy looked up and spotted me at Gaara's window. I felt frozen in place. My body didn't want to move so I just watched what happened next.

Big Guy ran in my direction, but Gaara shot out his hand and an arm of sand shot out from behind him towards his opponent. Big guy turned slightly and did something with his hands.

"Suiton; Teppou Dama!" He shouted and balls of water shot out of his mouth like bullets and hit the sand arm. It slowed down, but didn't stop. Either did Big guy. He jumped and launched himself at the window and I toppled backwards as he burst through the glass. He stood over me for a second and all I could do was stare up at him, eyes wide with terror.

He brought his hand back as if to smack me, and when he swung, I flinched.

Between me and the Big Guy was a wall of sand. I finally came back to my senses and scrambled for the door. I made it to the hallway before something hit me in the leg from behind. I cried out and fell to my knees.

It felt like my leg was on fire and it all seemed to be coming from one spot on my leg. I could feel something warm in that particular spot. There was a strange triangular knife with a ring in the handle embedded in my calf. The warm part was the blood oozing from the wound. I could feel tears burning in my eyes and it hurt to just look at my leg. So I did the only sensible thing. I reached out and pulled the damn knife out of my leg. Let me tell you something, it hurt more coming out than it did while it was in.

I held the knife in my hand and tried to stand. I had to use the wall for support and put most of my weight on my right leg while my left was just kind of there for the moment.

The big guy was in the door way now, glaring at me.

"Get the hell away from me!" I yelled and took a step backwards, left hand on the wall, right holding the knife up in front of me. Pain shot up my left leg but I tried to ignore it.

Big guy said nothing, but took a step closer. I took another step backwards and bumped into something solid. I whipped my knife hand around, but was stopped by someone grabbing my wrist, twisting me around, and pushing me against the wall. It was everyone's favorite red head. I relaxed slightly and watched as he held out a hand and more sand flew from the gourd on his back and encased Big Guy.

"Sabaku Sousou." Gaara said in a voice barely above a whisper and closed his hand slowly.

I covered my ears as the big guy let out a piercing scream that ended in a gurgle. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I fell to my knees again and covered my head with my hands.

I don't know how long I was sitting like that on the floor when I felt something touch my shoulder. I flinched and looked up. Gaara was kneeling in front of me.

"You're hurt." He said as he put a hand on my leg, over the wound.

I nodded and looked around. The Big Guy was gone, and in his place was a large pile of sand, but I could see a fair amount of red seeping out from underneath the sand and on the tan carpet that ran down the center of the hallway.

I heard footsteps echoing in the hall below us and then up the stairs. It was Kankuro followed by two men wearing sandy colored vests and veils over their faces.

Kankuro stopped short when he saw me on the ground and Gaara in front of me, blood running down my leg between Gaara's fingers. He glared at his brother, "What the hell did you do, Gaara!"

It took me a few seconds to realize that he must think that Gaara had hurt me, I opened my mouth to correct him when Gaara grabbed my free hand, pressed it to my leg, and stood up.

"What did you do?" Kankuro demanded again.

Gaara glanced over his shoulder at me before pushing past Kankuro and the two veiled men, "Nothing." and with that said, he dissolved into sand.

Kankuro looked at the spot where Gaara had been standing seconds before and then seemed to snap out of a trance. He ran to my side and kneeled beside me.

"Daijobu?" He asked me.

"Huh?" I was confused, and I was sure what ever he had said, was in another language.

"Are you okay?" He asked again.

I blinked a few times and looked down at my leg and looked back at him, "I...I don't know..."

He waved one of the veiled guys over and he came quickly to stand behind Kankuro and handed him a roll of white cloth. Most likely a bandage or something. I didn't know, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to think straight.

Kankuro pulled my hand away from my leg and wound the cloth around the knife wound and checked me over.

"What happened? Did Gaara do this?" He asked seriously.

I shook my head, "No, but he did do that." I said and pointed to the sand and the blood stained carpet.

Kankuro looked over and his eyes widened and he glanced over his shoulder and both the veilded men tended to the mess.

Kankuro held out a hand and pulled me to my feet. He tried to put my arm around his shoulders and his arm around my waist but I pulled away.

"I don't need help, thanks." I said as I limped back down the hall towards my room.

Kankuro grabbed my wrist and forced me to face him, "What's your problem all of a sudden, I was just trying to help."

"We had everything under control." I stated as I pulled free of him.

"We?"

"Yeah, me and Gaara. Figures the first thing that comes out of your insensitive mouth is some half baked assumption that your brother did this to me. No. He defended me. He saved my miserable hide." I started back to my room once again, "I'm going to bed. When you see Tem-Chan, tell her I want to speak to her." by the time I finished my sentence I was already at my door. I pushed it open, flicked on the light, and shut the door behind me. I leaned back against the door with my eyes closed and sighed.

I opened my eyes and gasped at what awaited in my room.


	10. Chapter Nine

Disclaimer: I don't own Gaara or his little friends. Amanda is mine. sigh I hate writing disclaimers... 

A/N: Sorry about the cliff hanger. I thought it would be more amusing this way. XD

"What are you doing in my room?" I demanded of my unexpected visitor.

Gaara was standing at my window, looking down into the courtyard. He glanced over his shoudler at me for a second before returning his gaze outside.

I narrowed my eyes. Either I was halucinationg from blood loss, or he wasn't glareing at me, but had one of those looks that a kid gets when they get seperated from their parents in a busy store. That strange lonely look.

I watched him for a minute or two before limping to my bed and sitting down. He still hadn't turned around or said a word. I bent over to undo my sandles and he stepped away from the window and was standing beside me when I sat up straight again.

"I heard what you said." He said to me in his strange, far-too-calm-to-be-good voice.

"I say a lot of things, you'll have to specify." I said dully.

"Before the attack, when you were talking to Kankuro. I heard you." he said as he continued to stand beside me.

I looked up at him and shrugged, "I'm glad someone was listening, because he doesn't seem to have heard a damn word that I said." I sighed, "If you are going to stay and talk to me, would you at least sit down. You're making me nervous." To my surprise he actually sat down on the bed a few feet away from me.

He didn't say anything for a while so I prodded my leg where I had been hit with the knife, witch, I realized with a start, was still in my hand. My leg didn't hurt much anymore, just a dull throb, but it had bled through the bandage. I decided to break the silence.

"Oh yeah, sorry." I said as I glanced at Gaara who was watching me.

"Hn?" He looked slightly confused for a moment.

"I made a noise, I promised I wouldn't. I don't usually break promises, so if you want me to keep my mouth shut tomorrow too, I will." I said with a shrug as I looked at the floor. I was begining to feel uncomfortable with him in the room, just sitting there watching me.

He shrugged slightly before looking out the window.

"And thanks for...saving my ass." I said as I stood up suddenly and went to the bathroom. Maybe there were more bandages in there. I opened the small cabnit under the sink and I was surpried to find an assortment of bandages and ointments in a nice little box with a large red cross painted on the front. I grabbed the box and returned to my room, not surprised to see sand man still sitting on my bed. I wondered if he wanted something from me, or if he did this with other people often. It seemed vaguely stalker-esque.

I seated myself on the floor and opened the small box and was surprised when Gaara had stood up, and taken the box from me. I watched as he kneeled to my left and unwound the hastily done bandage that Kankuro had done. For someone who killed people, he had a gentle touch.

He set the bloodied bandage to the side and pulled out a small spray bottle and sprayed the wound. What ever was in the bottle stung a little bit, but I reasoned it had to be rubbing alcohol or something of the sort. He put the bottle back and pulled out a small jar. He twisted off the top and scooped some out on his finger and rubbed it none too gently on my leg.

I yelped and he looked at me. Still no glare, but like my mom used to when I complained about her hurting me when she was rubbing neosporine into a scrape from playing too rough. I shrugged and he rewrapped a fresh bandage around my leg.

We sat there in silence for a minute or two before I heard a knock at my door, I turned as whoever it was, spoke.

"Ah-chan? You awake?" It was Temari. Apparently she had gotten the message from Kankuro that I wanted to talk to her. I looked back to Gaara but he was gone, and there was a handful of sand where he had just been. I blinked and stared at the sand for a second.

"Yeah, come on in."

She opened the door and peeked her head in for a second before opening the door all the way.

"What happened? There's blood all over the hallway and I can't find Gaara. Kankuro said something about how you wanted to see me and then he left. What the hell is going on?" She stood in my doorway with her hands on her hips.

I scooted to the side and used the bed for leverage to stand, I guess it was then that she saw the first aid kit and the bloody bandage sitting on the floor.

"You're hurt?" She crossed the room quickly and helped me the rest of the way to my feet.

I nodded slowly, still trying to register all that had happened, "Yeah. I think it was the same people that did the summoning thingy."

I slowly put my full weight on my left leg and when there was no pain, I stood casualy infront of her, "Gaara...he um...'dealt' with them."

"Thank god you're okay, I mean, besides that." She said as she pointed to my bandaged leg.

I shrugged in reply, "I'm fine, just a little spooked. It was a good thing I was awake."

She nodded and asked for a full explination of what happened. I told her everything. Everything except for the part where I came back to my room to find Gaara waiting for me. I still wasn't sure if he was really there or not. The whole thing seemed weird.

She sat there in silence for a few minutes after I relayed the whole story before snapping her fingers. The sudden noise made me flinch.

"Oh yeah, What was it you needed to talk to me about?"

"Well." I paused and she looked at me expectantly, "I want you to help me learn to defend myself."

"You want me to train you?" She looked slightly surprised and confused, almost doubting what she had heard.

I nodded, "Yeah. Tonight really opened my eyes to what's going on. Who ever these guys are, they want me for some reason. Bad enough to take on your brother when they knew who he was." When Temari had explained to me about why Gaara was the way he was, I figured anyone who was willing to go up against him was either stupid, or was willing to go to any extreme to get what they wanted.

"Oh shit..." I said quietly. Temari suddnely looked worried.

"What is it?"

"The King of pentacles card."

Temari looked confused.

"When Kankuro did that reading for me, one of the cards was the upside down king of pentacles, someone who will do anything to get what they want." I silently cursed Cat Head and the cards.

"Oh..." Temari said almost silently before perking up, "Well, you couldn't have asked a better person for training. If you're feeling up to it, we'll start tomorrow, but in the mean time, I think you should sleep. You look worn out."

I nodded and fell backwards onto the bed. I glanced nervously at the window as Temari opened the door to leave. She glanced over her shoulder at me.

"Don't worry. We've got people outside in the courtyard, a few on the roof, and someone in the hall. You're safe. Get some rest." With that said she left the room and closed the door behind her.

I rolled onto my side was was soon fast asleep.


	11. Chapter Ten

Disclaimer : Same as before.

A/N: Sorry last chapter was so short. Had no idea how to continue it, and had to do a little research.

"Focus! You need to concentrate!" Temari yelled at me for the fith or sixth time.

I made a face, "You try doing it when you don't know what exactly it is you are doing!" I yelled back. I had my eyes closed and my hands in what Temari said was a 'Simple hand seal'. Simple my ass, my hands were already cramping up from the strange position.

It had been a week since the attack. I had been training with Temari every day since then, and she said I was learning very fast for someone who had no idea what she was doing in the first place. The first day was spent teaching me how to throw shruiken and the ninja knives, which I found out, were called Kunai. She had tested my aim and reaction time and she said that I was almost as good as her, so we could move on to something more difficult. The something turned out to be what she refered to as Chakra Control. I didn't under stand the concept at first, but she had found some books and scrolls on the subject that I was supposed to study every night. I tried, but at the end of the day, I was so tired from the training that I could only read a few pages before I fell asleep. I guess it was better than nothing. I figured out the Chakra Control thing out on my second attempt. She refered to it as Kinobori. Plain and simple, it allowed me to walk up walls. It's pretty neat.

"C'mon, one more time. Form the seal, concentrate, and then do it."

I bit my bottom lip before nodding. For the last few days we had been praticing what she called 'Bunshin no jutsu'. She said, that if I did it correctly, I would create a clone of myself. I had already mastered the Henge. It was a disguise move which I picked up on the second day of trying it. It was like playing dress up in your head.

I formed the seal once more, pictured two of me, standing side by side, concentrated, and yelled, "Bunshin no jutsu!"

I heard a noise to my right and there was a slight amount of smoke, and when it cleared, it was like looking into a mirror. I couldn't help but stare in disbelief. I had done it. I actually did it. I glanced over my shoulder at Temari and she was beaming.

"Good job! You finnaly got it!" She ran towards me and punched me playfully in the shoulder. I couldn't help but grin.

"So what's next?" I asked. It was still early afternoon, and I was ready to tackle the next obsticle.

"Well, we have to find Gaara."

My grin faded, I hadn't seen Sand Man since that night in my room. I wasn't really looking forward to having to find him.

Temari noticed the look on my face, "Think of it as a test. If you pass, I'm sure I can convince Gaara to let you become a Genin of Sunagakure."

I raised an eyebrow. Temari had explained the hiarearchy of the ninja ranks the other day. Genin was the lowest, but you were considered a full fledged ninja of the village at that point. I couldn't help but give her a half hearted smile. I could almost picture the look on John's face at him hearing that I was a ninja. I felt a pang of homesickness in my chest. Would I ever see my friends again? What had happened to John? I sighed and noticed that Temari was on her way back to the Kazekage Building. I ran after her.

"Do you really think your brother would allow it?" I asked as soon as I caught up.

She shrugged, "I don't see why not. If anything, you would shock the hell out of him. I don't think he knows that I've been training you. He's been busy."

I interlaced my fingers and streched my arms out infront of me, "So all I have to do is find him?"

Temari nodded, "But you have to use at least one of the things I have taught you this past week. Understand?"

I frowned but nodded. There were only so many places he could be, and if he was busy, he could be in his office.

Temari pointed to the building, "Then get going." She said with a grin.

I nodded and sprinted up the steps and dissapeared inside the building.

Once I was inside, I realized that it was much darker than usual. I narrowed my eyes and looked around. I didn't see any one, and I didn't hear anything. I slipped into the shadows and behind one of the many pillars that were in the entryway. Tem-chan said I had to use one or more of the Jutsu things she had taught me this last week. Well, the easiest one at the moment would be the Henge. Now was the hard part, who should I look like? I pondered this thought for a moment when I heard muffled voices down the hall to my left. I quickly formed the seals and whispered, "Henge no Jutsu."

I ducked out from behind the pillar and made my way to the hall that led to the Kazekage's office. I paused just outside the door. There were noises comming from withen. I grinned to myself, I found him already. This was too easy. I reached out and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

I reached for the door handle but paused, that wasn't Gaara's voice. I shook my head slightly and walked in anyways, raising an eyebrow at what I saw.

It looked like Kankuro had been searching for something in Gaara's office. There was a mess of papers on the desk, and particaly unrolled scrolls scattered everywhere. The Cat Head in question was kneeling beside a book case, pulling out one book at a time and checking the title on each.

Kankuro looked up at me and surprise crossed his face, "I thought you were supposed to be training Amanda all afternoon."

I praised myself silently, it had worked, he thought I was Temari. I shrugged, "We finnished up early."

He eyed me for a minute before nodding, "Take it she's doing better?"

I smiled, "Yep. Catching on real fast." I crossed my arms over my chest and looked around, "Have you seen Gaara around today?"

Kankuro nodded, "Yeah, he said he was going out the the desert for a while. But that was like, four hours ago." He looked back at the book in his hands, sighed, and shoved it back on the shelf.

I nodded, "Thanks, Cat Hea-" I stopped short as Kankuro looked at me and shook his head. The jig was up, I slipped and reavealed who I was. Damnit.

"You almost had me there, why are you disguised as Temari?" Kankuro demanded as he stood up and approached me.

I pouted before dropping the Jutsu, "Tem-Chan told me that if I could use what I learned and find Gaara, then she'd talk him into letting me become a Genin." My shoulders slumped forward and I looked up at Kankuro hopefully, "Do you know where he goes when he goes out into the desert?"

"Usually around the same place we found him last time. About an hour's walk straight out into the dunes. I'd be carefull though, I think we're going to have a storm." He said as he glanced out the window.

I looked too, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary, so I brushed it off, "Well, alright, see you later!" I said as I turned and left.

--

I made it to the gates and out of the city with no problem at all. The problems started when I was about a half an hour's journey north of the city. The winds started to pick up and there was sand flying in the air. It made it difficult to see, to breath, and to walk. Pausing for a minute, I did what Temari had taught me on day two, I focused chakra to my feet, and by doing that, I didn't sink into the sand as I walked, and it made it much easier to walk though the sandy wind.

After walked for a little while more, I checked my watch. I had been walking for close to an hour, and still no Gaara. Not only that, but the winds were constantly growing stronger and stronger. I screamed every profane word that I knew and kicked the sand at my feet. I was going to get lost out here. I couldn't see my foot steps anymore, and the sandy winds made it damn near impossible to see. I plunked myself down in the sand and pulled my bandana down over my nose and mouth. My day had gone from great to bad in the span of one hour. I had mastered a few Jutsu's in only a week, when other people needed years of practice. I didn't understand it, and I could tell by Temari's astonished looked every time I did one right, that she didn't understand it either.

I sheilded my eyes and looked around. Sand in every direction I looked, not only that, but the winds just kept getting stonger and stronger. sand was piled up over my sandles when I decided I should at least keep moving. I stood up, and headed in the direction that I thought I had came from.

With the wind at my back, I moved a little faster than I had on the way out into the desert. But it was apparently in the wrong direction. The storm calmed down to it's usual breeze and when I looked around, I couldn't see anything that even resembled the Village.

A little voice in the back of my head told me I should have turned back when the storm started. I frowned, yeah, that helps so much right now. I kicked at the sand at my feet and nearly tripped over what the sand had been covering. There was a scroll, half burried in the sand. I crouched and picked it up and brushed it off. It was tied shut with a red string and I was half tempted to open it when I heard a voice from behind me.

"What are you doing out here?"

I turned around so fast while still crouched that my feet slipped in the sand and I fell on my rear. It was Gaara, looking quite like his normal self, angry stance, glare intact, but minus his giant gourd.

"I was actuly looking for you." I said as I stood and slipped the scroll into the pouch Temari had given me after our first training session.

"Really." He crossed his arms.

"Yeah, really. Tem-chan told me to find you, using what I learned this past week." I said with a nod.

"And what exactly would that be?"

I formed the hand seals for the Henge and took on the appearance of Temari once again, "This."

"It took you a week to learn that?" He sounded mildly surprised.

I dropped the Henge and shook my head, "Two days."

The look of surprise vannished and he looked me over and nodded towards my leg.

I looked down and realized he wanted to know about the injury. I reached down and pulled the pant leg up to reveal a diamond shapped scar, "It's healed."

I watched as he opened his mouth to make a comment, but apparently he had decided against it because he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me back in the direction I had been walking from. As it turned out, I did get turned around and was walking farther and farther away from the village, and he was now, leading me back. After about an hour and a half, I could make out the village gates a ways off. I remained silent the whole way. Not because I was afraid to say anything, or because I had nothing to say, but because Gaara seemed to be deep in thought. He just had one of those expressions some people get when they're thinking and not really paying any attention to anything else. I figured it would be best if I saved my questions untill later.

I let him drag me along untill we reached the Kazekage building. It was here that I pulled free of him and crossed my arms, "Okay, what the hell's going on this time?" I demanded as I jumped in front of him.

He glanced at me before walking around me, "Go back to your room. Your training is finnished for the day." With that said, he dissapeared into the building.

I narrowed my eyes at the dark doorway and sighed, I was getting left out of something that I assumed had everything to do with me.

"I'm not a child." I grumbled as I did as I was told and headed to my room. I got half way there when an Idea struck me. I spun on my heel and headed towards Gaara's office.


	12. Chapter Eleven

Disclaimer: Same as the usual.

a/n: I'm sure there are those of you out there saying, "How did she learn all that in one week?" Well, this chapter should answer most, if not all, of your questions.

I made it there with no difficulty. There was no one walking the halls today so I didn't get stopped and asked where I was going. I walked slowly down the hall that led to the Kazekage's office and as I neared his door, I could hear voices. I smiled to my self as I pressed myself against the wall and scooted as close to the door as possible to listen.

"She has to be a Jinchuuriki. That's the only explination." I heard Gaara say. I narrowed my eyes, Jinchuuriki? What the hell was that?

"Nani! How is that possible, she's from another world all together!" This time it was Tem-chan.

"I've been looking into that. I don't think it's true." Gaara said.

"So she's been lieing?" Temari demanded. She sounded angry.

"Iie. I think she beleives she is from where she says she's from. Everything sounds accurate, but I've been looking into some information that had come to my attention recently." Gaara said. I heard a shuffling of papers. He must be showing Temari the reports or something.

"Genjutsu? That's your explination for this? There isn't anyone out there that can create a Genjutsu of this magnitude. It's impossible." Temari said after a minute or so and sounded skeptical.

Genjutsu, genjutsu...I've heard that before... Oh yeah, it was the illusion technique. I narrowed my eyes. Gaara thought my life had been nothing more than an illusion? Who the hell would do that to someone?

"Improbable, not impossible. I beleive I have an idea of who is behind this."

"Who would have the power to do this?" Temari sounded worried.

"Who had the power to influence the last Kazekage, who had the power to defeat the Third Hokage? Who is the only known person to leave Akatsuki and live to tell about it?" Gaara said with a tone that said he knew, but wanted Temari to figure it out.

"Surely not. He's been in hiding too long now to let something like this happen, let one of his..." She paused and I heard her take a breath, "...precious experiments...get away from him like this?"

My eyes widened. Experiments? Is that what she had just said? I was an experiment? I leaned closer to the door.

"I'm sure there is more to it than that. We will just have to wait and see." Gaara said and I heard a mettalic creak. He must have sat back down in his chair.

I stood up straight and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm myself, and also keep myself from bursting in. He had obviously not wanted me to hear the conversation. That would explain why he ordered me to my room and told me training was done for the day. I froze as the door opened. I was caught for sure. But what did it matter? What would happen, would I get grounded again? Big deal.

Tem-chan walked out and her eyes widened as she noticed me leaning against the wall beside the door.

"How long ha-"

"Long enough." I said, cutting her off.

"How much have you heard?" She asked.

"Everything from 'Jinchuuriki' on." I paused as I saw her pale slighlty, "What the hell is a Jinchuuriki anyways?"

"It means...you're more like Gaara than anyone else." She said as she glanced over her shoulder into the office.

"I don't follow." I said and it was my turn to pale, Gaara had just appeared in the doorway behind Temari.

"It means you have a demon sealed inside you." Gaara stated plainly.

I raised an eyebrow, "And that explains it? Or is there more to it than that?"

Gaara nodded before looking at Temari, "You have busines to attend to, right?"

Temari nodded, "Yeah. I'll stop by later to check on you, alright Ah-chan?" She gave me an apologetic look and left me standing in the hall alone with Gaara.

"Come in here. I have something to show you, it should help you understand." He said as he walked back to his desk.

I walked into the office and shut the door quietly behind me. I looked up to see Gaara pull out a rather thick book, open it about half way though, and set it on the desk. He nodded to it.

I walked over and looked down at the book. It was in a language I didn't know so I looked back to Gaara, who took it upon himself to explain it.

"Here, in our world, there are Nine Tailed Beasts. They were once thought of as legend, but twenty two years ago, one of the Beasts attacked Konoha. It was the Kyuubi, or Nine Tails. To defeat it, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha, sealed it within a newborn baby. A year before, my father had done the same, with Ichibi, or the One Tailed Beast. He sealed it within me, not to save the village, but to use it as a weapon."

I nodded and looked back down at the book. The current page it was opened to had an image of a raccoon on one page, and on the other, was what looked like a two tailed cat. It wasn't as big, but looked just as mean.

"With the Tailed beasts, their strength is based on the amount of Tails they have. Ichibi, having only one tail, is the weakest. Kyuubi, with nine tails, is the strongest."

I looked up at Gaara, who was watching me now, "So which one do I have?" My hands were shaking slightly, so I stuffed them into my pockets and tried to keep my voice normal, but I could tell it held the tell tale signs of fear.

"That, I can't answer." He said as he picked up the book and snapped it shut.

"Why not?" I was slightly irratated. He can tell me I have a demon in me, but he can't tell me which?

"Because I don't know. No one but the one that sealed it within you knows, and the way the sealing goes, he or she, is probably dead. For the sealing techninque to be sucessful, it needs a sacrifice. That is why it is considered forbidden." With that said, he turned his back on me and looked out the window.

I sat there for a few minutes in silence before finding my voice again, "So what happens next?"

He didn't answer right away, "You will resume your training. It will only get harder from here on out, but you must stick with it." He paused for a few seconds, "You may go now."

I didn't answer him, I just stood and walked out of the room, deep in thought.

Tem-chan knew, did that mean she was going to treat me any differently now? She had said that everyone in the village was afraid of Gaara. Was she afraid of me? Was that why she suddenly got pale when I told her I heard what they were talking about?

I walked to my room, still thinking about what had been discussed with Gaara when I bumped into someone. I muttered an apology with out looking up and continued walking.

"Amanda?"

I turned and saw Kankuro looking at me curiously. I stopped walking, "What?"

He narrowed his eyes, "You find him or what?"

Find him? Oh yeah, that's right. I had left Kankuro in Gaara's office and went to find him. I nodded, "Yeah."

"Good, I was worried. Did you get caught by the storm?"

I nodded.

"Did something happen? You're being far too quiet."

I shrugged, "I'm fine. Just thinking about stuff." I said as I turned to continue on my way to my room. I heard Kankuro mutter something about women being all the same before I turned down another hall that led to the stairway.

I made it the rest of the way to my room without running into anyone else, be it litteral or not.

I kicked off my sandles and uncliped the small pouch from my hip. I suddenly remembered the scroll I had found. I pulled it out and looked at it for a second before hiding it in the nightstand drawer. I figured I would look at it after my shower.

I walked over the bed to the closet and pulled out a black shirt and a pair of clean pants before locking myself in the bathroom for well over an hour, during which I spent submerged in hot water.

I redressed myself and walked out of the bathroom, towel in my hands, drying my hair, when I heard a knock on my door. I drapped the towel over my shoulders and opened it. Temari was standing there, looking quite nervous.

"Hey." I said as I opened the door all the way to let her walk in.

She seated herself on the bed as I finnished toweling my hair. I tossed the towel into the bathroom and it landed on the sink.

"So he explain everything?" She seemed curious.

I nodded, "As much as he could. Still confused though."

"Yeah well, not a whole lot is known about the Jinchuuriki. Gaara and Uzumaki Naruto are the only known at the moment, and you, of course." Her nervousness seemed to fade as I sat down on the bed.

"This isn't going to change anything, right?" I asked hesitantly.

"Change anything? No, why would it?"

I shrugged and smiled, she said exactly what I had hoped she would. I reached over and pulled open the drawer to the night stand and pulled out the scroll.

"You know what this is?" I asked as I tossed it to her.

She caught it with one hand, pulled off the red string, and opened it.

After a minute, she spred it on the bed, "It's a Technique Scroll. It tells you, in detail, how to perform it."

"Really?" I was automaticly interested now. Maybe I could learn it.

She nodded, "Yeah, it's called Sunakirino Yaiba." She paused and read the scroll, "Interesting. It creates a sword made entirely of sand that is just as sharp as steel." She said with an approving nod.

I grinned, "Sweet! Can you help me learn it?" I leaned forward and watched as she pointed out different symbols.

"It might take a while, you'll need near perfect Chakra Control, but yeah, I think we'll be able to tackle this." She looked at me for a moment, "Where'd you get this?"

"I found it while looking for Gaara. I tripped over it."

She shrugged, "Stroke of luck then. Scrolls like these, even second hand, are fairly expensive. After you learn it, you might want to take it to the scroll shop and sell it. I'm sure you could get a couple hundred ryou for it."

I beamed, "Yes! Money is always good!" I said and jumped off the bed and pulled on my sandles, "C'mon, lets get started! I want to learn this one as soon as possible!"

Temari shrugged, "Sure, we still have a few hours before dinner. You'll at least be able to get the hand seals right."

Tem-chan and I spent the better part of two hours working on the hand seals. Once she was satisfied with my efforts, she said it was time to call it a day.

--

After an uneventful meal of rice and curry, which I had declared my new favorite, I headed back to my room. About half way down the hall I came across a young blonde who looked very lost. He kept looking around sighing.

"You lost?" I asked loudly to catch his attention.

He turned and focused a pair of very very blue eyes on me and nodded, "Yeah, I'm looking for someone."

I glanced him over. He was wearing a pair of damn near close to neon orange pants, black sandles, and a black tee shirt underneath a black and orange jacket.

"Got a name for this someone, I might be able to help." I said causally. It took me a moment, but I noticed the bandana around his head had a familiar looking metal plate on it. It was a leaf shaped symbol, "You're from Konoha, right?"

He grinned and nodded, "Yup, one day I'm going to be Hokage."

I raised an eyebrow, he seemed far too happy for his own good. I waited to see if he was going to answer my first question.

He rambled on about how Hokage was his greatest dream, declared himself, 'Uzumaki Naruto-sama, Konoha's number one show-offy ninja.' It was here that I stopped him.

"Alright alright. I get the point. Who are you looking for, Naruto-san?" My patience was wearing thin, and a loud mouth blonde was the last thing I really wanted to deal with today.

"Her name is Amanda. Do you know her?" He looked hopeful.

I swear my jaw must have dropped a good foot an a half, "What are you looking for me for?" The words were out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop myself.

"You're Amanda-san?" He sounded doubtful.

I narrowed my eyes, "Yeah, wha'd you want?"

Naruto broke into a long winded story about how he was on some delivery mission for the Hokage and when he had delivered his package, Gaara had stopped him and asked him to find me and talk to me about something. What ever that something was, Naruto didn't specify, but made it sound really important.

When it sounded like he was finnished, I stoped him before he could say anymore, "Okay, so it's by Gaara's request. What is it you're supposed to talk to me about?"

He looked around and suddenly looked very serious, "I can't say here. Can we go somewhere private?"

I closed my eyes and sighed, "Yeah fine. My room's just down the hall." I said and walked past him, "Keep up, these halls are booby trapped." I added to make sure he didn't lag behind.

He followed closely much like a lost puppy and kept chattering about how someone named Sakura-chan would love to visit, and how she and I could probably be friends. I rolled my eyes and thanked god when I saw the stairs that led to my room. I took them two at a time just to speed the whole process. Naruto was really getting on my nerves, he talked too much for me.

I pushed open my door and made a beeline for the bed and sat down as he followed me in.

He looked around hestiantly and shut the door behind him.

"So what is it you need to talk to me about?" I asked as I kicked off my sandles and sat cross-legged on the bed.

He sat on the floor infront of me and nodded, that serious look back on his face, "Jinchuuriki."

I narrowed my eyes for a moment before remembering that Tem-chan had said that Gaara and an Uzumaki Naruto were the only known surviving Jinchuuriki. This blonde chatterbox sitting in front of me was _that_ Uzumaki Naruto? Oi.

"What about them?"

"Is it true what Gaara told me, that you're a Jinchuuriki too?" He looked like a kid asking their grandparents if Santa really exsisted.

I sighed, "That's what he thinks anyways. I don't know. Why?"

His eyes went wide and all shiny, like if grandma or grandpa had said that yes, santa did exsist, "Because that's just so cool, Amanda-nee-chan!" He jumped to his feet and tried to tackle me, in what I think was a hug, but I jumped off the bed and away from him before he got too close.

"I will not allow any of that. Not even if you have something furry and tailed inside that hyper active body of yours." I said with my hands on my hips.

He leaned back on his elbows and grinned, "So which one do you have, Nee-chan?"

I shrugged, "No idea. You?" For some reason, I could picture a ferocious looking rabbit with nine puff-ball tails, bouncing around inside this guy. Just the thought made me smile slightly.

"Kyuubi, the Nine Tailed fox." He sounded almost proud.

"Kyuubi, that's the strongest one, right?"

He nodded, "Yup."

There was along silence between the two of us before I finnaly broke it, "So when are you leaving back for Konoha?" I asked out of mere curiosity. Part of me wanted to see this other village. I was getting tired of sand every where.

"Day after tomorrow. I promised Sakura-chan I would bring her back something." He didn't sound too thrilled at the prospect.

"How about, I help you pick something out for Sakura, and you return the favor by doing something for me?" I offered up.

He opened his mouth to reply but paused and looked at me strangely, "Something like what?"

So he wasn't as dumb as he looked, "Just fill me in on some blanks that I really want to know, but don't think anyone will tell me. Just some innocent information is all." I added a smile for good measure.

"Sure, ask me anything!" He sounded pleased that I would ask him a simple question.

"I might be rude in asking, but who defeated the third Hokage?" I asked quietly.

"Why?" All humor was gone from his voice.

"I"ll tell you after you answer my question."

"Orochimaru." He said the name much like someone would say a curse.


End file.
